Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I agree 100% with the Minister. We must be fair to people who work in the private and public sectors. I know people in the latter who apply themselves diligently and conscientiously to their jobs and we are fortunate to have such excellent people. As with every organisation, however, there are drones within the service and, unfortunately, they tend to be protected. In the private sector, these people would find themselves sidelined after a time, but this is not the case within the public sector.

We must ensure the best possible commercial practices apply. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources which has examined some of the relevant semi-State organisations. Across a range of those bodies, opportunities were taken by people, who quite often were moving from the public sector to the semi-State sector, to ensure salaries were increased significantly. In some instances, salaries at the top level in the semi-State sector are probably not commensurate with responsibilities and jobs. However, the salaries for senior administrative positions, which we are approximately discussing in this event, have been inflated. I do not know how this situation will be tackled but it needs to be tackled. We must also be fair if we are asking people at the lower levels to play their part by taking salary reductions. I do not disagree with those reductions because salaries in the public and private sectors are too high, which is a large part of the reason we have lost competitiveness. At senior level within the semi-State bodies, there must be an overarching mechanism to control some of the excesses of many years that have inflated salaries. It is not fair that people who hold positions of greater responsibility in the private sector do not get anything like those salaries. We must be more energised about and engaged with this area.