Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Acting Chairman might inform me when ten minutes have passed.

I am delighted and privileged and thank my colleagues on the Technical Group for allowing me to table this motion and for their attendance this evening to support it. Moreover, many of them also have signed the motion. It is a pretty simple and straightforward motion which really only extends over three lines. It calls on the Government to end the current system of paying grossly over generous pensions and massive lump sums on retirement to officeholders such as Cabinet Ministers, taoisigh, Deputies and Senators, senior public servants, State regulators including the Financial Regulator, Members of the Judiciary and the chief executive officers of semi-State bodies and State-funded banks and is signed by members of the Technical Group.

While I have read the Government's amendment to the motion, I will not discuss it but will make my own points because I do not believe any amendment to this simple motion is acceptable or worthy of the work Members are trying to do in this House, if one wishes to describe it as work. This is especially in light of the fact that savage fiscal austerity is being imposed on the ordinary citizens of this country. While it is stated this is at the behest of the troika, the present Government came into office with a different mandate, that is, it intended to reverse all those cuts and all that austerity, to burn the bondholders and God knows what else. At the time, then Deputy Gilmore told us that hellfire would not be hot enough for the bondholders. However, Members should consider what happened. The public and ordinary people have been subjected to the most vitriolic state of austerity with no future in sight for unemployed or disabled people, pensioners or young people who are going abroad. I note there now also has been criticism of The Gathering from people who have gone abroad and who do not wish to return to this country. They have been forced abroad, many to live illegally in different places and they see no future in this country.

It is as though there was no word other than "austerity" in the dictionary. The Government has adopted that mantra. It is like a relay baton being passed on, except the present Government ran faster and deeper with it and with greater vigour to bow down to the troika, to put people into penury and above all, to kill any form of stimulus or growth and to drive the economy further into the mire. It is not acceptable that those within the Government or who hold high office in the land, who are receiving massive salaries, expenses and major set-aside of taxpayers' money in respect of the funds to finance their pensions pots, should legislate and dictate how literally to crucify, I hate using that word, low and middle-income earners, the unemployed, disabled people and many others. Last week, an article published in The Irish Times outlined that it would take €36 million to fund the pensions for the 15 Cabinet members at current rates. I acknowledge the Minister for State, Deputy Brian Hayes, is not a Member of the Cabinet and I admire much of the work he does as a junior Minister and for being open and honest. However, I ask the Minister of State and his colleagues in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to reflect on this issue tonight and over the next 24 hours before debate resumes tomorrow evening. I also look forward to hearing their contributions and they should think about it before they vote on this motion because Members will be asked to pass a budget in less than a month's time and that will be the exact opposite. It is a total anathema to the public that Members can continue with this slush fund, as one must describe it, while penalising ordinary people, business people, those who wish to work and those who wish to get educated to further their careers and to benefit this country with their education, experience, passion and vigour and future generations.

The funding of the banking lump sums and retiring bank chief executive officers' pensions from bailouts, that is, from funds provided by the people of Ireland against their will, is not acceptable and the inherent inactivity of the Government in this regard is a total affront to people and to democracy. Earlier today during Leaders' Questions, I heard the Taoiseach state the Government was powerless but he was going to bring in a code of practice. Imagine that. Moreover, he stated the chief executive officers of the banks had written to some of those concerned asking them to pay back their pensions. They are laughing at us all the way to the bank, in the bank, out of the bank and from the bank, just as are the bondholders, that is, the gamblers and spectators. There is nothing wrong with gambling or speculation, which are needed in business people, but I refer to the massive gamblers who took risks with huge amounts of money, assisted by Anglo Irish Bank, "Mr. Fingers" and others. They are laughing at us all the way. Consequently, the people will not take any more, nor can they.

Given that all income must be taxed, what reason is there to allow a certain cohort of the population to benefit handsomely from the generosity of the Government? What is this about these protected species in Ireland? This did not happen today or yesterday but has happened over the past 20 years under the different cosy cartels and agreements that were negotiated at the behest of the former Taoiseach, Mr. Ahern, and which were willingly accepted by the Opposition at the time even though they now profess otherwise. They sought more in terms of Croke Park agreements, better local government and God knows what different deals were done when all the players, such as the Construction Industry Federation, union leaders and so on sat around the table. However, the ordinary people, those who Members are meant to represent, were left outside the door. They were left in the constituencies and were expected to sit down and to get the crumbs from the table. The cuts to the ordinary contributory State pension, which were passed in last year's budget at the behest of the Government, came into effect in September of this year. While it is possible to make such changes, namely, to cut the pension of an ordinary person who has spent years working and who will find he or she is not eligible to receive a pension of a meagre €230 per week, it is not deemed possible to cut pensions of €230,000. What is wrong? How is this credible? How can the Minister of State ever again go back to the electorate? Whatever about being able to fool them once, can they be fooled twice? That will never again be accepted by the public. I am glad to note we have an educated electorate and they will not put up with this because they were promised so much.

Last year, we paid out €156,328 in presidential pensions, almost €8.45 million in judicial pensions, retirement lump sums and death gratuities, approximately €367,000 in pensions for Attorneys General and €229,417.78 in pensions to Comptroller and Auditors General. The latter are the watchdogs who were supposed to be watching all of us. Who are they watching? As far as I am concerned, they are watching for themselves. They have gone up the ladder and have pulled the ladder up with them. They think they are so high and mighty that they cannot be touched. However, I can tell Members that this will come crumbling down. My philosophy is that it is easy to climb a tall tree that has been knocked down. These people must be brought into reality. These people must face the wrath of the people and unless Members act, I am afraid the people will. A shocking €4.1 million was paid in ministerial pensions and more than €1 million in severance payments to former Ministers. This is shocking by any standards. As for the Minister for Finance, while I do not wish to say anything in his absence, I note he currently is in receipt of a ministerial pension from a previous Administration which he has not surrendered, unlike many of his Cabinet colleagues who I salute.

The Government has been praising itself for its efforts in the matter since it entered office in March 2011. However, it still is the case that former officeholders such as the former Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, received €139,785.34. Moreover, John Bruton was in receipt of €131,399 and Dick Spring, the former Tánaiste, was in receipt of €114,806. In addition, the reformer of all reformers, the former Minister and great messiah, Noel Dempsey, who stated he did not even know the troika was coming to Ireland, is in receipt of €112,538. The list is endless but these figures stick in my mind because they were prophets of everything. However, what are they now but prophets of doom? Some of them had the cheek to tell people who shouted "halt" to go away and commit suicide. Imagine any Member of this House using such terminology.

If I turn to the bankers, the former AIB chief executive, Eugene Sheehy, from whom Members saw a lot last week with his arrogance towards a committee of this House, is being paid a pension of €529,000 per annum. Imagine that figure.

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