Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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150. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the net and gross saving to the Exchequer if all public sector pay, excluding hospital consultant pay, were capped at €100,000. [30143/14]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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151. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the net and gross saving to the Exchequer if all public sector pay was capped at €100,000. [30144/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 150 and 151 together.

Based on data currently available in my Department if all public service pay was capped at €100,000, the gross Exchequer savings would be some €248m of the estimated public service pay bill for 2014, reduced to €75m if the pay bill for hospital consultants were excluded. The total estimate is some €42m less than the previous estimate of €290m.  That was given prior to the most recent reductions in pay arising from the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, 2013 and reflects the progressive nature of the pay cuts as they applied to higher paid public servants.   It should also be noted that the pay reductions have been applied uniformly to all public servants in the relevant pay bands, and a particular group of serving public servants cannot be excluded from the application of the financial emergency measures.

The estimate does not take account of the impact of the Pension Related Deduction and any offsetting reductions in taxes and levies.  As the combined effect of the estimated marginal tax rate and the pension related reduction at a pay level for a public servant of €100,000 p.a. or higher is at least 62.5%, the estimated net savings would be reduced to some €93m or some €28m if hospital consultants are excluded.