Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is public outcry about bankers' remuneration and salary packages. The Minister has stated that the new appointment that was made was within the salary cap, so the appointee is getting only €500,000. It is time to wake up. This country is broke and the Minister cannot afford to pay someone a basic salary of €500,000 out of taxpayers’ money. That is simply not acceptable. The country is broke and the Minister will ask people within three weeks to take more pain, despite the fact that they did not cause the crisis, yet somehow he justifies bankers’ receiving pay packets of €500,000 under his watch.

I agree with the Minister that many of the bankers discussed in the media and in this House were awarded contracts by the previous Government, but when the information became known under the Fianna Fáil-led Government the Minister called on it to introduce emergency legislation. The late Brian Lenihan, God rest him, sat in the chair where the Minister is sitting and said that he could not do so because of constitutional barriers. The Government has introduced pension reductions for public sector workers up to a value of 20%. Has that been passed on to bankers? The Minister has not written to Irish Life or the other institutions asking them to forgo 15%. Will he tackle this issue? The outcry from the Government is fake. This has been ongoing for a year and a half, and if it were not for the fact that questions were tabled to elicit this information we would not have heard the comments made today by the Minister or previously by the Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore. This is a fake outcry. It is to do with a report. The Minister is satisfied with the situation because he is still granting packages of €500,000 today.

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