Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

On the issue of the Central Bank report, it is shameful in the extreme that bonuses are being presided over at this time. We all find that shocking. On the issue of remuneration, I have said many times previously that the salaries of those in the public sector earning over a certain threshold - not the less well off but those who are higher paid - need to be examined. This also applies to all Government-supported agencies, whether it be the FAI, the IRFU, obviously the banks of which we have so much ownership, or the semi-State sector; we cannot preside over salaries struck at levels at a time that the State was relying on a tax base that was completely unsustainable, as we now all know. There needs to be adjustment downwards.

The suggestion by the IMF that there needs to be public sector pay cuts if the Croke Park agreement is not realised within nine months is laughable in the extreme. I must repeat that if this was a business plan, it would have been agreed yesterday and implemented this morning. If there is an agreement in place and work practices are to be changed, they need to change immediately; otherwise, we should cut public sector pay and do it quickly, and not wait nine months to do so. We need to realise the kinds of efficiencies that are necessary. We need to insulate the lower paid in the public service but the people, the sacred cows, above a certain level need to face up to reality, and we need to have adjustments downwards. Certainly, that includes those in the banks who, effectively, are public sector workers by extension.

I read during the week that the FAI announced that it will take significant cuts, and that is just too. Sligo Rovers won the cup a few weeks ago and they got €100,000 as a bonus for winning it, but the chief executive officer of the FAI receives more than €450,000. How is that just in a society? How much money on an ongoing basis does the likes of executives in the FAI - not to hone in on the CEO of that organisation - and many other agencies get?

I wish to put on the record an issue about which the Cathaoirleach will not be pleased. Senator O'Toole mentioned earlier in the week that he intends not to seek re-election. That is a major retrograde step for this country. As one of the fathers of social partnership, which gave so many benefits to this country, I hope that in the interests of this country he will re-consider that decision and ensure, as a Member of Seanad Éireann in the future, unlike this time, that it will reformed.