Harris volunteers for 10% pay cut

INDEPENDENT SENATOR Eoghan Harris is to take a voluntary 10 per cent pay cut amounting to €7,013

INDEPENDENT SENATOR Eoghan Harris is to take a voluntary 10 per cent pay cut amounting to €7,013.40 from his Oireachtas salary of €70,134 in view of the serious economic situation.

"It would be hypocritical for me to go on looking for a pay freeze in the public sector without putting my money where my mouth is," he told The Irish Timesyesterday.

Pointing out that the Government-appointed taskforce to develop an action plan for the public service was reporting shortly, he said: "I expect it to be an anodyne report and I want to have the right to attack it with a clean pair of hands, so to speak."

He would have preferred if the pay cut had been imposed on himself and his colleagues but added: "I am not calling on anyone else to do it."

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In his Budget speech last month, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan appealed to senior public servants and those in senior positions in semi-State bodies to consider surrendering one-tenth of their salary.

Those who agreed to take a 10 per cent cut included President Mary McAleese; Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland John Hurley; Ombudsman Emily O'Reilly; CIÉ chairman Dr John Lynch; and chief executive of the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority Pat Neary.