Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I did not interrupt the Deputy. It is a basic rule of common decency and manners. I did not interrupt the Deputy so he should give me the chance to speak.

We stand over our decisions since coming into office in February 2011, and any fair minded person would see that substantial progress has been made in reducing the public sector pay and pensions bill. I will put a number of facts about this on the record. First, public service pay, as well as that of commercial CEOs, has been reduced and capped. This reduces pension costs into the future. Second, public service pensions in payment have been reduced, by a public service pension cut, which now has a 20% top rate for those pensions over €100,000. This was not mentioned in the debate although it was introduced by this Government. Third, future pension costs have been reduced and brought into a more sustainable trajectory by way of the single public service pension scheme. This was put in place by the Dáil but, again, was not mentioned in the debate tonight.

What must be understood from the outset is that pensions are deferred remuneration, so their eventual cost is linked to pay. In this regard, the Government has imposed a policy of strong pay reduction and restraint since taking office in March 2011. Over €2.5 billion has been saved to date in the totality of public service pay and pensions over the past three years. The total bill peaked at nearly €20 billion in 2009 but, with the pension levy deducted, today it stands at €17.5 billion. While many talk about cuts in public service pay and pensions in the tens of millions, this Government has achieved cuts in the billions. This is frequently ignored by our opponents, as occurred tonight. It is part of their misinformation.

The Government decided at its first meeting in office to reduce the salaries of the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and Ministers of State with immediate effect. All members of the Government accepted reductions in their pay on their first day in office. The Taoiseach's pay rate was reduced to €200,000 and a pro rata cut was applied to the pay of Ministers, Ministers of State and related office holders. The reductions were accepted on a voluntary basis by all relevant office holders pending passage of the necessary legislation. That legislation was passed.

Pay expectations for higher paid public servants must be set appropriately and in line with the resources available to the State. To ensure that is the case, since June 2011 a general pay ceiling of €200,000 applies to appointments to higher positions across the public service. That policy brings pay levels at senior levels in the public service in line with those the Government accepted for itself. A voluntary waiver of up to 15% was introduced for post holders with salaries in excess of the relevant pay ceilings and this received a positive response. In the Civil Service, new pay rates were introduced for Secretaries General of Government Departments. A maximum rate of €200,000 now applies for Secretary General, level 1, which represents a 30% reduction on September 2008 rates. All new appointments to the public service are being made in line with the policy adopted by the Government on pay ceilings.

The gross annual salaries applicable to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers and Ministers of State have been reduced. The gross salaries are inclusive of the pay element for a Deputy, amounting to €92,672. The effect of these reductions is that the salary of the Taoiseach has been reduced by nearly 30% since December 2009. In the same period, the salaries of the Tánaiste and Ministers have been reduced by nearly 25% and the salary of a Minister of State by almost 16%. What is frequently missed is that these are all gross salaries. Effectively, people are bringing home half their salary. I accept they are very substantial salaries but people are taking home half because of tax and contributions to their pensions. Deputies, despite the play acting and histrionics, know this is the case. Extraordinary hypocrisy is shown by people who have access to in excess of €40,000 per year, none of which is accounted for by way of a report they give to the public.

The rest of us, who are involved in political parties, must account for ourselves but others do not. It is an extraordinary level of hypocrisy.

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