David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)

During the past number of days, two of the Leader's ministerial colleagues from the Fine Gael Party called for the Government to breach its commitments under the Croke Park agreement. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Leo Varadkar, called for the suspension of increments for those paid from the public purse. Ironically this is during the same week that the Government again breached its own salary caps for those employed at the highest level in the public service, in particular the salary of the newly-appointed chief executive of the VHI which is a State agency. On the one hand the Government is breaching the salary cap for high earners while at the same time calling for the increments of the low and middle-income earners in the public service to be scrapped. Those at the highest level in the civil and public service have a single pay point but it will take a new entrant at clerical officer level on a salary of €29,859, 17 years and 13 separate increments to get to a salary of €33,607. A Secretary General in a Department has a salary of €200,000 per annum. This is more kite flying by Fine Gael Ministers.

The Taoiseach has asked Ministers not to comment on the Croke Park agreement or the budget, but there is no doubt that they are flying kites. We had a debate in this House not so long ago on the Croke Park agreement but I think we must invite the Minister to return to allay the fears of low-income earners in the civil and public service about their levels of pay. When the Minister came to this House, he was very clear that by and large the Croke Park agreement was working but that a number of areas needed to be addressed. I do not think it is correct to go after the lowest paid workers in the public service while breaching the salary limits and not doing anything about the very high levels of pay for senior members of staff in the public service.