Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

We have said time out of number that as the State is insolvent, there will have to be emergency measures and that people need to shoulder the burden. The Minister has asked what is an excessive salary. A sum of €200,000 - the salary cap - is an excessive salary. I have repeatedly told the Minister that, in these times of financial emergency, pay should be capped at the level of €100,000 across the Civil Service and the public sector. I have said this time out of number, but it seems the Minister is not prepared to hear it. Is he prepared to legislate for this and, for once and for all, deal with the issue?

My second question was related to salary caps. The Minister set a number of caps but then went off and broke them. Let me instance the specific case of special advisers.

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