Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

Also, what proportion of the savings has been committed to for repayment in order to replenish those wages?

The area which needs to be considered and which identifies itself easily when we look back over the past decade is that of overstaffing. From 1998 to 2008, the public sector increased from approximately 220,000 on the public service payroll to 370,000, an increase of 150,000. The cost went from €9 billion to €20 billion, which is absolutely not sustainable. Using my experience of mathematics from a business perspective, if we do not get back to somewhere in the order of €14 billion to €15 billion, we will not be sustainable going forward. Obviously, action is needed in that area.

We are sometimes challenged in regard to levels of pay. A Dutch report was carried out on the pay of university professors and, while I accept I am singling them out, this could apply across the public service. The report was based on a purchasing power parity system of evaluating pay across a number of European countries. In the Netherlands it was €46,000, in Germany it was €34,000, in Belgium it was €38,000, in Switzerland it was €78,000, in Sweden it was €31,000 and in Britain it was €60,000, although in the top universities there it was €82,000.