Madam, - It is clear from the reaction to the recent Report by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration that its approach of comparing public sector salaries with the private sector is inadequate. Why should Irish secretaries general be paid more than their equivalents in almost every other country? If TDs' salaries are very high by international standards and linked to those of principal officers, what does this say about salaries at middle levels in the Irish public sector?
Buried in the review body's report is mention of a recent survey, covering 13 countries, showing that the pay of office holders in all the countries is well below (my emphasis) that of jobs of comparable weight in the private sector. Why should Ireland be so different? It will be interesting to see if the current review by the OECD of the Irish public sector will include salary comparisons when it benchmarks the Irish public sector against other comparable countries. If it doesn't do this, how can it hope to assess effectiveness and performance, given that pay and pensions account for the bulk of public expenditure?
Aside from review body awards and benchmarking, the main driver of politicians' and public sector pay has been the various national agreements which appear to benefit mainly the public sector. Because these agreements provide percentage increases across the board, workers at the lower end of the scale receive only small increases and the gap between top and bottom salaries gets wider exponentially. Is it any wonder that, despite the smallness of the State, our political and administrative leaders are, thanks to these percentage increases, among the best paid in the world?
In future the review body must be instructed by the Government to take account of comparable public sector salaries in other EU countries. In addition, national agreements should provide for percentage increases to be applied on a sliding scale so that the lowest paid get the largest percentage increases. - Yours, etc,
BRIAN FLANAGAN, Ardmeen Park, Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Madam, - I welcome Senator Fiona O'Malley's call for Ministers to reverse their decision to accept the massive pay increases awarded them by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration. It is good to see that the reforming and radical spirit that once defined the PDs still survives in the Seanad, if not in the Dáil or cabinet.
However, to focus solely on Ministers' pay misses the point. The review body recommended pay increases for over a thousand high-level public officials. These include senior gardaí, county and city managers, chief executives of State bodies and a whole range of professionals who have got increases even greater than those of Ministers. For example: university heads (30.6 more), public health specialists (20.4 per cent), judges (an average of 18.1 per cent) and hospital network managers (up to 19.6 per cent).
Fine Gael's position on this is clear. These awards should not be granted until matching reforms, efficiency gains and real public service improvements are achieved. The entire report was based on a false premise because it did not make its core criterion the improvements in services delivered to taxpayers and clients. It measured performance by the stress and pressures of the job rather than the results achieved. This makes no sense.
It also makes no sense that there was no one on the review body to represent the interests of taxpayers or users of public services. Shamefully, the review body did include a former Fianna Fáil senator and TD. It is also unacceptable that the Cabinet agreed to implement the report without Dáil scrutiny or debate.
Fine Gael wants to ensure that public servants are well rewarded for the work they do. Fine Gael also wants to open senior public sector positions to be best qualified applicants and is prepared to pay good money to attract them. If this is to be achieved, we cannot afford to repeat the mistake of benchmarking by paying out a further €1.3 billion in tax money in the form of pay increases without requiring real changes in working practices, increased flexibility, accountability and benchmarked improvements in services.
I should also like to point out, lest there be any confusion, that ordinary TDs such as I were not assessed by the review body and therefore received no increase. - Yours, etc,
LEO VARADKAR TD, Leinster House, Dublin 2.