Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail)

Yes.

I welcome the measures on pensions, in particular those which most people would agree are considerably above the norm, namely, pensions for senior members of former Governments, senior civil servants, members of the Judiciary, and so on. I wish the figure provided by the Minister of State's was actually €400 million because a saving of €400,000 is minimal. I believe he will agree that, seen across the board, the reductions made to the large pensions of retirees are not enough. The Government should review that. For people who are in receipt of large pensions of more than €100,000, which are guaranteed for life unlike those most in the private sector will receive, this reduction is far too small. In its own time the Government should look to making substantial cuts in this area.

I would go further than the Minister of State. On 20 January 2009, I produced a pensions paper for the then Minister for Finance, the late Brian Lenihan, and the then Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, which considered the entire pensions structure. In this Bill, there are reductions in salary for new entrants, as introduced in by the previous Government and with which I agree, but we really must examine the pensions time bomb coming down the track in the public service. I propose, in regard to all future increases and increments to existing public and civil servants, that their requisite pension payment should be made on a defined contribution basis and that all new entrants to the public sector and the Civil Service should not be put into the defined benefit structure but into the defined contribution structure. That would create a hybrid scheme for existing public sector employees and reduce the liability to the State further down the line, which now runs into hundreds of billions of euro. The future pension liability of the State must be tackled by a government. I do not mean the State pension but the pensions of State employees.

One must also remember that what I proposed in January 2009 would not affect any person's existing entitlements. What they have they hold. It related to future increments which this Government will pay next year to the tune of €300 million. Those increments will then lead to a further increase in the projected pension payments for those who received the increments. The Minister of State has had a busy period in this House. I ask him to genuinely look within the Department of Finance, be inventive and think outside the box with regard to the future pension provision for all State employees, including Oireachtas Members. The State can no longer afford to try to fund defined benefit type, gilt-edged pensions. We should seek to move towards a defined contribution scheme.

There is talk of a salary cap but those that were introduced in the Bill relate to future appointments. I note there are 18 individuals who receive more than €250,000 in remuneration. These sums were subject to ministerial sanction.

Health professionals are missing from the Bill. They are entirely exempted and I do not believe that is right. I could make many arguments about this but I believe most people will agree this is not correct. If one includes universities, the Minister for Education and Skills confirmed there are 99 employees in the higher education sector who earn more than €200,000. Of that 99, some 89 are academic medical consultants who are exempted. Why are consultants exempted? An amendment is to be moved in the Dáil that would restrict these people to a salary of €200,000. That should be done. I cannot understand why those health professionals who are paid by the public purse have been left out of this measure when many other segments are not. It does not make sense. Perhaps there is a reason but if there is one, I would like to hear it. I ask the Government to review this because it is not tenable.

A salary cap is also being introduced. I will not politicise the point because that has been done to death over the past week. However, the Minister of State will fully understand, as should the Government, the scepticism with which such caps are regarded when the Taoiseach can overrule the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform and ensure that an individual's salary goes above the €92,000 cap approved for special Government advisers. The Government actually set the cap and I agree with it completely. However, increasing numbers of exemptions are coming through the system and as a result the whole policy begins to lack credibility. I have reams of names I could offer the Minister of State but I do not believe it is fair to mention individuals. He will know to whom I refer.

There is no reason on earth that these posts of special advisers are not advertised. The post of adviser to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, was not advertised. The individual concerned should have begun at a level of €82,000, not €92,000. However, he got €92,000, was not happy with it and asked for €127,000. The Ministers, Deputies Noonan and Howlin, were right when they refused that, but the Taoiseach directly intervened in the matter. This happened in previous Governments but that does not make it right. The practice should stop. The posts of special adviser have been the trade of Governments of all hues but the trade is wrong. Effectively, these are political appointees. The Minister for Children, Deputy Fitzgerald, appointed a Fine Gael councillor to a post of special adviser. Perhaps that councillor is qualified to be a special adviser in the Department of Children. If there must be special advisers, they must be qualified. At some stage, I would love to see the CVs of the people who have been appointed to see their qualifications. Exceptions are made and there may be exceptional cases. Some people give up jobs in the private sector as did many of us in these two Houses. We have no other job security. I have none - this is the only job I do. Yet these people are being paid double a Senator's wage - €127,000 is effectively double our wage. What expertise do they have?

Their salary may be more than double that of Senator Cullinane.