Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

However, we should not mix up this figure with appropriate pension limits. The pension of a public sector worker earning €100,000 will be approximately €50,000. I propose no more than €50,000 for pensioners. Is that not enough for the Minister or for the heads of the semi-State companies or top civil servants? It is extraordinary that we do not have emergency measures to get back these vast pay-outs and lump sums to the heads of the NTMA and Departments and so on. Where are the emergency measures to do so? Where is the will and energy of the Government to go after these people?

I see no justification for these people to continue to get these payments. One individual will get €147,000 per year. This is unbelievable when people are being slaughtered at the bottom. There is no justification for people to earn more than three or four times the average industrial wage. Do such people honestly believe they are worth five, six or ten times more than a nurse in an accident and emergency unit?

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