Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. As I noted at the outset, I acknowledge the reason this section has been included in the legislation. Unfortunately however, this comes down to the issue of trust as this provision confers on the Minister the power to alter the relevant provisions dealing with the cuts and allows him to exempt groups. As I noted previously, the problem is that opinion polls indicate the majority of the people no longer trust the Government and do not trust the Minister to make the correct decisions, as was evident last Wednesday. On this basis, I wish to press the amendment.

I welcome Senator Hanafin's intervention because it is important to provide accurate figures. Senator Hanafin should ask the Minister whether he is correct because I am reading from a reply to Question No. 104 of 16 December by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, which shows that in County Donegal, 20,658 public sector workers earn less than €20,000 and 6,437 public sector workers earn between €20,000 and €30,000. The best information available to the Department of Finance and the Minister was contained in the answer provided to the parliamentary question.

It is important to have facts and for Members to base their information and opposition to this legislation on accurate facts. As for correcting me and stating I am misleading the House in respect of these facts, I am only misleading the House if I am incorrect on foot of the information the Minister for Finance provided to the Dáil on Wednesday, 16 December, in response to a parliamentary question in which he was asked for a complete breakdown of every pay grade of public sector worker. If I am to be corrected that there are fewer than 20,658 public sector workers in County Donegal who earn €20,000 or less, I stand corrected, but the Minister for Finance also must be corrected. As I stated in my contribution, I am sure the Department of Finance officials provided the Minister with the correct information, that he provided the Dáil with the correct information and that I am providing this Seanad with the correct information in this regard. Consequently, I do not believe the intervention by Senator Hanafin to be correct and I believe it was misleading this House.