Kathryn Reilly (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House again. In terms of public sector reform I will focus on the issue of public sector pay and pensions. The Minister knows well how Sinn Féin feels about this issue having listened to my colleague in the Dáil, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald. We believe there is a need to reform the public sector pension system but we disagree fundamentally on the way it must be done. It should be done by capping those on the higher end of the scale. Former Ministers and senior civil servants are receiving shamefully high annual pension payments and an elected MEP is still in receipt of a ministerial pension of over ¤70,000. One of the former leaders of Fine Gael receives a pension of ¤95,000 plus a salary for his role in the IBRC. A former Labour Party leader receives an annual pension of ¤120,000 as well as his fee as a public interest director in AIB. A former Secretary General in the Department of the Taoiseach gets a pension of ¤142,000, yet the majority of public sector pensions are ¤30,000 a year or less.

Despite the promise of some sort of democratic revolution there is still a circle of people at the top of the public sector when it comes to pay and pension entitlements. The Taoiseach recently told the Dáil that there is a legal impediment to introducing a levy to recoup some of the super pension payments paid from the public purse. Can we see some of that legal advice on the reason for that, given what he told the Dáil recently?

The Government has introduced a levy on public sector pensions over ¤100,000. If introduced, Sinn Féin's Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill 2012 would increase public service pension levy rates for retired public servants in receipt of excessive pensions. We believe that cutting the income of lower middle income workers in the public sector is unfair and it is not economically guided in the right direction. Will the Government quality proof the forthcoming budget? The Minister might discuss that when replying.

Sinn Féin introduced two Bills earlier this year, a Bill that would appeal Article 70 of the local government superannuation consolidation scheme, and the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (Amendment) Bill mentioned earlier. That would give legal effect to a number of specific demands regarding public sector pay, pensions and allowances. I will not go into the detail of them as my time is limited but those legislative measures are the approach we believe should be taken on pay and pensions. The Government should cut from the top, share the burden, and create a more sustainable and fair system.