Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is quite normal in the run up to budgets that people posture and take up various positions. Generally around this time there tends to be a fairly concerted attack on the public service, and we see it with every budget, but I wonder whether it is more orchestrated this time. I am not quite sure where it is coming from but we seem to have some outrageous statements being made just as the Minister is establishing a commission to inquire into public service pay. The question of public service pensions has been given a new dynamic in this debate. I read in today's newspaper that it is now considered that anybody who retires at the age of 60 on a Civil Service pension is a millionaire because in theory it would cost €1 million to purchase the pension he or she gets. This totally skews reality because everybody knows public servants, be they nurses, teachers, gardaí or whoever, contribute to their pensions throughout their working lives. They are soft targets for the Exchequer in everything. They must pay for everything. They pay their taxes and a public servant can never say he or she cannot or will not pay because someone in the public service will pay and that is a fact. I sympathise greatly with what Senator Norris said about self-employed people and their pensions. I know because I was that soldier. I paid into a private pension when I was self-employed. I can tell the House it is a bottomless pit. Whatever entitlements one may have on the social welfare side are being eroded, so one is shovelling into two bottomless pits, to make a long story short.It is widely felt by people in the public service that the FEMPI measures which have impacted tremendously on their living standards over the last seven or eight years and on their pensions should be unwound. Public sector pensions are considered to be a type of hidden crock of gold available to all public sector workers. These people have paid all their working lives for everything and contributed massively to their pensions while trying to raise young families and so on. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, is no fool. I am sure he will see through all of this rubbish and ensure the commission is properly chaired and produces a good report.