Alan Kelly (Labour)

With regard to the package of cuts in the public service announced yesterday, how can one justify low and middle income public servants having to pay up to €2,000 in tax? It is a tax and we should call it that. We might as well get used to it. Members should not be so vain as to call it a contribution to pensions; it is a form of tax. Some of the low income earners will be paying a contribution to a pension from which they will not benefit. Their income is so low in the first place that, from a contribution point of view, they will not gain. Is that equitable? I say it is not.

I agree with Senator O'Toole who said previously that some businesses who have declared serious profits in the past are using this situation in an exploitative manner, to get rid of workers that do not fit their bill. That is unacceptable. Furthermore, when dealing with the banking situation, why did the Government not impose conditions in the bail out regarding the salaries of senior executives?