Charlie McCreevy (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

Something which has not been widely commented on is the cap I placed on public service numbers. During the term of the previous Government, the number of public servants increased by 50,000, of which approximately 40,000 were recruited to the health service. I imposed a cap on these numbers in the budget and indicated that there must be a reduction of 5,000 over the next two years. Much of this will be achieved through natural wastage, etc. It is important to put a cap on numbers because we cannot continue to expand at the previous rate.

Most of the 40% increase over the two years relates to public pay and pensions. More than half of the net current budget is spent on pay and pensions. As any business person will know, control of expenditure is related to the numbers of people employed and the rates at which they are paid. If the numbers employed are increasing and the rates being paid are substantial, it does not take a great mathematician to work out that costs will increase. A good deal of the increases have gone on pay, and one can understand why this is the case. Health is a caring service, involving doctors, nurses paramedics and so on. The same applies to education.