A CALL was made in the Dáil for Tánaiste Brian Cowen to show "political leadership to every worker in the country", by announcing next week, when he becomes taoiseach, a rejection of the pay increase recommended for Cabinet members.
Since Mr Cowen called last week for pay restraint before the opening of new social partnership negotiations and also expressed concern about payments to private-sector high earners, the Opposition has renewed pressure on him to lead by example and decline the pay increase, the first tranche of which is due in September.
In the Dáil yesterday Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny reminded Mr Cowen that on April 3rd the Tánaiste said "this House should have the courage to change recommendations of independent commissions if it saw fit and if it thought that a wrong should be put right".
Mr Cowen said: "The issue here is that the pay talks have begun and a contribution from all sides can be made in the context of those pay talks and those negotiations, but not beforehand."
Mr Kenny asked Mr Cowen if he had a personal view on "whether it is appropriate for government members to receive pay increases of between €30,000 and €38,000 when every other worker in the country is being asked to accept realistic pay increases and to tighten their belts."
The taoiseach-designate should show political leadership by rejecting, instead of just deferring, the planned increases, he added.
Mr Kenny said "this would send a clear message that he means business in meeting the economic challenge faced by the country and that everybody, including those from the top down, can play their part in that".
The Tánaiste, however, said that they had made a "differentiated decision on politicians vis-à-vis other high earners.
"The pay talks have just begun and I do not intend to anticipate the outcome of those discussions except to say that obviously the Government is anxious to sit down with the partners and address the issues in a way that will meet the requirements of everybody."
Mr Kenny said the Tánaiste had spoken out last week about pay increases to people in the private sector. "He will recall that the pay increases recommended for Ministers and members of the Government are directly linked to those pay increases."
Mr Cowen said he was referring to the "highest earners who were earning millions of euro that they were obtaining obviously with shareholder approval, which is in compliance with company law, but which in terms of the message it sends was important in the context of pay talks".
He added that the government decision that he was a party to was to defer the increase to Cabinet members.
"That decision does not apply to other persons who will receive pay awards," he said.
"We deferred the increase for a year and then it will be paid over three further years."
