Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asks first about my actions. The only clear action I have taken was in regard to the Haddington Road agreement whereby anyone earning less than €65,000 received no cut in actual pay.

Those who earned more than €65,000 received pay cuts ranging from 5.5% to 10%. That is the reality and that is my record. It is not the previous Government's record but my record.

On pay comparisons, I am sure the Deputy has had an opportunity to look at the comparisons published by the CSO last week. Up to 2006, the public service, on a pay comparison basis, was paid more than the private sector. The snapshot of 2010 showed that situation no longer exists and that the public sector and the private sector were less than 1% apart. However, where they were apart was in respect of the lowest cohort of workers in the public sector who were better paid than comparable workers in the private sector. The highest half of public service workers were less well paid than their comparators in the private sector. I am sure Deputy McDonald will be conscious of that when we have to recruit consultants, people to man our health service, judges and so on.

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