Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. We have a clear choice before us tonight with the proposal from our party. We have a choice between giving leadership and good example and putting more money in our pockets. Those of us who have a good salary should not demand more. Deputies have take-home pay of between €45,000 and €50,000 out of a salary of €87,000. That is enough for anybody and we should not be demanding €5,400 more. We should not jump the queue while low-paid public servants, many of whom depend on family income supplement, wait. The question for all 158 Deputies here is do we actually need it? I do not and I know that very few other people in the House can say honestly that we need another €5,000 in our pockets. Public servants on €35,000, €36,000 or €37,000 will get an increase of roughly €1,000 while we line up and take over €5,000. That is not fair. People on the minimum wage will receive an increase of 10 cent per hour in January. That is awful. What kind of message does that send out to the people passing on the street here? What kind of message does that send out to the public? I have heard young teachers and young public servants being lectured in recent weeks - lectured by us. They are being lectured by people in here who are prepared to have that kind of inequality.

Under a previous Fianna Fáil Government, the minimum wage for someone working 39 hours per week was cut but that has been restored. Ten cent per hour is an insult and the figure should be increased. Only those on middle and low incomes should get an increase. We need to reduce pay for top earners and increase it for those with the lowest incomes. The first in the queue should be clerical officers, manual workers in the public service and what are termed the lower grades. People on €22,000 or €23,000 per year should get the largest increase. Half of workers in this State earn less than €28,000 gross per annum. This translates into take-home pay of about €400 or less per week.

We need to create a society based on solidarity, not greed. What better place to start than in here? We should take the lead. There have a clear choice here tonight for Deputies. We either want to lead by example or operate by double standards. I appeal to people across the political divide to do the right thing. The money saved, which is a modest amount, could be used for homeless services. If you walk out through that gate here tonight, you will fall over people whose feet are hanging out of doorways - unfortunate people who are forced to sleep rough. Money should be put into services like that, not into our pockets. Let us not lecture gardaí, young teachers, young nurses and low-paid public service workers. Let us try to create some equality and start with it here.

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