Feargal Quinn (Independent)

On this side of the House, we regard ourselves not as Opposition but as non-Government because sometimes we are with the Government. I welcome the Minister of State and this Bill to the House. I regard it as a rubber-stamp of the will of the people. More than 80% of us voted in favour of a reduction in judges' pay. The obvious question is whether we can reduce the top public sector salaries even further. I accept Senator Michael D'Arcy's point that we must compete for the best people to run our State and semi-State bodies. However, can we make further reductions in salaries?

I was to attend a meeting recently in Greece on a Monday and Tuesday. I travelled over there on Sunday but there was an air traffic controllers' strike that day, meaning I did not get in until late Monday morning. On Monday, there was a metro strike and the roads were blocked. On Tuesday, there was a bus strike and in the following days there was a taxi strike. Looking at the Greek reaction to this crisis, it is obvious that if we are going to solve this problem, we need to keep everyone, including the unions, on side.

We have a strange situation where it would be more financially beneficial to the State to pay off certain heads of semi-State bodies to retire than to continue to pay them. Will the Minister introduce more pay caps in State and semi-State companies? We always try to attract the best person for the job which means commensurate salaries. Savings could be made, however, if the cuts at many of these semi-State bodies were voluntary.

Dr. John P. Martin of the OECD stated Ireland should consider reducing public sector wages to reflect falling private sector incomes, even if it means breaking the Croke Park agreement. I hope the Government will prioritise examining the agreement as it is seriously damaging and hindering our competitiveness in the market place. In a recent Red C poll in The Sunday Business Post, 65% of those surveyed want the Croke Park deal reviewed. In this respect it is interesting to study the Lithuanian experience. I have become a fan of the Lithuanian economic approach.