Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Whelan for raising this issue. The outrage expressed by the Senator at excessive bank and pensions is shared by the Government. The allegation in the question is incorrect. Since the Government came to power, no breaches of the salary cap have been allowed by it, unlike the previous policy where exemptions were authorised and some of the Deputies who were part of that Administration are now asking me to repair the position. It is not that existing caps are being exceeded, it is that the caps were exceeded in the previous Fianna Fáil Government and there are legal difficulties in unwinding those caps both on pay and on pensions.

The Government has introduced stringent controls on remuneration levels under the conditionality imposed arising from the round of State investment in the banks in the summer of 2011.

We went much further than the previous Administration by including all elements in the pay package. Previous Administrations put on a pay cap and then one got an allowance for a car or housing. We brought the caps in and they are absolute, with one exclusion.