Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

-----but today he has. These are his political choices. He has made other choices, too. In the last ten months he has chosen to protect those on sky high wages and in receipt of pension pay-outs in the public sector. He has repeatedly broken his own pay ceilings for ministerial advisers, on 14 occasions in all. Yesterday's newspapers were full of stories on the Taoiseach insisting on a €37,000 salary hike for Mr. Ciarán Conlon, Fine Gael's former director of communications. The Taoiseach is not prepared to protect the vulnerable, but he will fight tooth and nail for Mr. Conlon. Is that not telling? The Minister has thrown shapes about pension pots and pay-outs, but he has done precious little about the matter. He came into the Dáil looking for a clap on the back in respect of his so-called pensions reform, but all he has done is made sure Brian Cowen will still be left with a pension of €147,000.

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