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

As the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, indicated in the Dáil earlier, in the past three years some ¤2.5 billion has been taken out of the public sector pay and pensions bill. In 2009 the bill was ¤20 billion, which figure has been reduced to ¤17.5 billion. People refer to tens of millions, but look at what we have achieved in the context of the totality of the public sector pay and pensions bill. In three years we have reduced it by ¤2.5 billion.