David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

-----many Senators, on both the Government and Opposition side, have, over the course of many years in this House and outside it, spoken about high salaries for people in the public sector. The Minister of State's party opposed benchmarking, for example, which served to drive up pay for those at the top of the public sector.

I make no apology for seeking pay parity and insisting that those on low to middle incomes should be protected first. Instead, however, the Government is pampering those at the top, who are walking away with Rolls Royce pensions and lump sum payments. Some are retiring with lottery sums of money which most people can only dream of. That is the world in which many people inside the political system and at the top of the public sector live. It is an entirely different world for all of the people who will be affected by the budget introduced yesterday by the Minister of State's party.