Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

I opposed this Bill on Second Stage, but my party has decided to support it, so obviously I am bound by that. Some time ago I carried out an exercise in which, as well as obtaining some information from independent sources, I asked the Oireachtas Library and Research Service - which is a very good service - to do a range of comparisons across many public service positions. I discovered, to my consternation, that our Supreme Court judges were paid €100,000 per year more than the Supreme Court judges of the United States, and our Chief Justice was paid €130,000 more than a US Supreme Court judge at that stage. I might be going back two years or thereabouts, but I would say it has not changed dramatically. We are talking about a 10% cut, or whatever it is, for judges. This is insufficient. There is no reason in the wide earthly world, particularly in our current crisis, we should be paying anybody in any part of our public service this much. I admit the members of the Judiciary are very important functionaries within our system and play an important role in underpinning society and the State. I do not want anything I say to diminish that. However, that does not mean the salaries they are being paid should be anything like the magnitude they are, even after the correction. I suggest that in all probability, judges' salaries will still be too large by around €60,000 or €70,000, based on my recollection of what the figures were at the time. That is not sustainable for a small island which is struggling and borrowing money and which is putting the cost of that, through our austerity measures, on the ordinary humble citizen who is struggling to make ends meet for himself or herself. I imagine there is probably nothing he can do about it at this stage but it should be examined.

I understand the main reason for the measure is to attract people to the position. Exorbitant legal fees and costs have been charged and they have been lumped on to the public and private sectors. This is the reason for having to pay the Judiciary such exorbitant figures. I call on the Minister of State to consider the points I am making and to bear them in mind for the future if he can do nothing in this Bill.

Let us consider the case of judges. A cap in pay of €250,000 has been imposed on some of the chief executives of our banks and important semi-State companies. Their performance and the quality of these individuals is so fundamentally important to us that I disagree with the placing of such a cap. We need to attract the best and brightest into these positions. They should be at the top of the pile when it comes to pay scales throughout the semi-State bodies and public service. There are far greater and onerous demands on them than on any others in our public service, including the Judiciary.