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FG would cut public sector pay of more than €35k
29 November 2009 By Niamh Connolly, Political Correspondent
All public servants earning more than €35,000 would face pay cuts under a Fine Gael government, according to the party’s pre-budget proposals.
The opposition party had previously said it would cut pay above an €80,000 threshold, but finance spokesman Richard Bruton plans to reduce that threshold to €35,000 in his pre-budget plan, to be officially launched on Friday.
A recent internal party debate on reducing the €80,000 threshold met resistance from TDs who insisted middle income groups should be spared cutbacks.
However, Fine Gael’s pre-budget document is expected to propose reducing public sector pay rates by 5 per cent for those earning between €35,000 and €100,000, rising to 10 per cent cut for those on incomes of more than €100,000, and 20 per cent for those on more than €200,000.
‘‘Clearly the situation has got more serious, so that the threshold would have to come down," a Fine Gael senior source told this newspaper.
Fine Gael communications spokesman Simon Coveney said he believed that ‘‘in tough times, there should be a guaranteed basic level of income at €35,000, which is the average industrial wage’’.
At the top end of the scale, he said ‘‘no public servant should be on salaries higher than the Taoiseach’s, unless for exceptional reasons that require approval from the Minister for Finance’’.
Last Friday, Coveney launched the party’s revised New Era document, which proposes investment in key infrastructure through a new commercial state holding company. The ‘super state holding company’, New Era Ltd, would raise capital for new investments by selling ESB power generation and supply, ESB International and Bord Gais. Key infrastructure would be retained, including electricity and gas networks and the hydro power stations.
The party claims its New Era proposals would create a total investment package of €18 billion - including €7 billion from the existing National Development Plan - and would create 105,000 jobs.
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