Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 4:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"acknowledges the substantial contribution that public servants have made towards the stabilisation of the public finances and the economic recovery;

recognises that pay restoration has to be balanced and affordable in the context of other Government expenditure commitments;

supports the full implementation of the Lansdowne Road Agreement, encompassing 280,000 public servants in 22 trade unions, as providing a fiscally sustainable pathway to pay restoration;

confirms that every Minister and Minister of State will waive the pay restoration due under the Lansdowne Road Agreement but reconfirms the importance of maintaining the link between the pay of TDs and the Civil Service grade of Principal Officer for both pay reduction and pay restoration measures; and

welcomes the establishment of the Public Service Pay Commission to provide a road map on the orderly and affordable unwinding of the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest."

The Government amendment focuses on the importance of the full implementation of the Lansdowne Road agreement encompassing 280,000 public servants in 22 trade unions, as providing a fiscally sustainable pathway to pay restoration. The amendment also reconfirms the importance of maintaining the link between the pay of Deputies and the Civil Service grade of principal officer for both pay reduction and pay restoration measures. I listened, as I should, with interest to what the Sinn Féin speakers said. It became even more apparent to me as they went on that this is a motion that is simply nakedly populist.

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