Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Leader for the extra time. The point was not picked up in the speeches of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, in the Dáil that our task in 2012 and 2013 is to reduce overtime payments. I believe the figure is 10% for those years. It is a little known fact. People will be working longer and harder because of the extra case loads and there will be fewer colleagues around to help but they will not receive the same overtime pay as they did in the past. It is not only a reduction in core pay we have seen from 2008 to 2012 but also a reduction in overtime. That will be very difficult to achieve. How many people in the private sector can achieve that?

My friend, Senator Quinn, rightly asked if we have too many county managers in Dublin. That is an issue for the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, in the first instance, and I know he is looking at it. One difference we have made is to set a very significant cap of €200,000 for the elite, the praetorian guard of the Irish public sector. That is the maximum figure.

I listened closely to what some colleagues observed in the argument on increments, and whether people who earn more than €60,000 should be entitled to receive them, given they are in a totally different financial category to the great majority of public servants, who as Senator Hayden pointed out, earn €20,000 to €30,000 and are mostly women. That is a fundamental question and it can be genuinely asked. It is bandied around that we could save €320 million tomorrow by simply getting rid of all increments. Once again, however, that is not true. It is estimated that no more than €180 million per annum, with less than half that sum in 2012, could be saved by getting rid of increments, 70% of which go to people who earn less than €30,000 and live on very small pay. Whatever about the argument for getting rid of increments for people in a different income category, for the great majority of public servants these are, frankly, pretty small beer in terms of their public pay position. I reiterate, we are reviewing special allowances and have introduced a comprehensive audit of allowances in respect of additional non core pay that may come into the foreground.

I apologise if I have not answered all questions. It is a difficult task and I am learning it. I have one final point, which picks up on what Senator O'Keeffe observed. I have been in this job for about 11 months. One of the things that most fascinates me, working with the Irish public service, is its failure to embrace and explain to the public the enormous successes it has achieved in appalling financial circumstances. I offer one example. Road deaths and road carnage in this country have fallen dramatically as a result of changes in the law made in this House and the other House, but also as a result of An Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority. What greater success could any country have than to say it has managed to reduce road deaths? This was brought about by a compliant public but also by a dedicated public service that worked together to achieve that result, following the laws of the Oireachtas.

In my own area of procurement we have introduced savings. The private sector rightly sets out what it achieves but there seems to be an inherent problem in the Irish public sector about taking ownership and control of the wonderful things it has achieved. These are the most motivated people in the Irish public sector, across the system, who are sometimes frustrated and want to achieve other things. However, we must find a way of explaining to the public the enormous achievements of these people, on our behalf, as legislators and policy makers. Since coming to this job, I have been struck by this failure to communicate in simple ways about the achievements.

At the outset I mentioned how we have redeployed people across the public sector. That has been done without protest, without megaphone diplomacy. That has been achieved without protest or megaphone diplomacy but in a nice, quiet and deliberate way through moving people around and getting them to buy into redeployment. The public sector has gone about this work in a quiet and deliberate way but it will need support to get through even more difficult stages. If we have learned anything from the crisis over the past several years, it is that we know we need a public service at its best. In the crisis, there was a failure politically on which the public had its say but there was also a failure of public administration. That can never be allowed to happen again. This country can never again be in the position into which it has been forced in recent years. A way out of that is to motivate the public sector to ensure we get the best out of its workers who are genuinely publicly spirited and want to achieve for their country and their children. The Government will also ensure the type of reform implemented will make a difference.