Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The previous Government and this one over a period of three years have reduced by ¤2.5 billion the amount we spend when public salaries and pensions are summed up. We do not sing about this and we need to. We need to explain to the public the enormous reductions in public sector pay and pensions of ¤2.5 billion made over a three-year period. It is enormous. When we speak internationally about this people ask us how we managed to do so. It is to the credit of the public sector that this level of adjustment has occurred.