Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

I have no problem imposing a cap but the Sinn Féin argument is the pure politics of envy. So few people get this type of pension or would ever get it. Most people who will get a public sector pension will get a small pension. It is fair to say that those who have retired on large pensions have caused considerable public resentment. I know this only too well from those I have spoken to in my area after the general election. The enmity was directed not only at politicians but at senior public servants as well. There are not too many of these and to make this a political issue and to suggest that Sinn Féin is championing the poor by including this vast cap that will apply to virtually no public sector work is wrong and cynical. It heightens the tension between the private and public sectors.

When I studied law under Senator Bacik one of the things I learned is that there must be some mischief that one is trying to correct, something that needs fixing.