Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

A time and motion analysis of Ministers of State might be a task too far. The public will ultimately decide these matters.

The serious issue here is that those of us who are privileged, and still enjoying very good pay and conditions even after the reductions, must lead from the front. In fairness to all politicians, there have been significant reductions in their pay in recent years. As I said, I am not ruling out the prospect of further reductions at some point in the future. The Government was very clear on coming into office of its intent to set out a clear strategy and to lead from the front in terms of pay reductions for Ministers, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste.

We must be very conscious of the difficulties so many people are experiencing. As I said last night, the great inequality in Ireland at this time is the difference between people who are working and those who are not. All of our efforts must be focused on giving people the opportunity to get back to work, to have the dignity of employment and the opportunity of income generation for themselves and their families. That is our task. Petty point scoring by one side or the other, even if people feel it will give them a cheap advantage, will not solve our problems. We must be far more realistic in terms of what we can achieve.