THE GOVERNMENT has been accused of underhand tactics designed to protect the most privileged public servants from the full impact of the pay cuts announced in the budget.
The charge was made by Fine Gael deputy leader and Finance spokesman Richard Bruton following a decision by the Department of Finance, just before Christmas, to minimise the pay cuts for senior civil servants by counting performance bonuses as pay.
Mr Bruton said he would be raising this matter in the Dáil at the earliest opportunity when he resumed later this month.
“Pay cuts graded according to ability to pay was a key feature of the budget. So the Government’s decision to reduce the level of pay cuts at senior grades, on the basis that a separate bonus scheme was suspended some time ago, is underhand and unjustified.
“The Government should have been upfront about this proposal and announced it in the Dáil, in order to subject it to proper scrutiny. Instead, Fianna Fáil has tried to slip it out under cover of darkness,” said Mr Bruton.
He said there was no justification for exempting senior civil servants from the pain that the rest of the public sector was being forced to bear.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael chief whip Paul Kehoe is refusing to apologise to the former chief executive of Irish Nationwide, Michael Fingleton, for describing him as a “gangster” during a Dáil debate.
Mr Kehoe made the remark under Dáil privilege during the debate on the Nama Bill on October 13th.
During the debate the Wexford Fine Gael TD contrasted the treatment of Mr Fingleton, and the former chairman of Anglo Irish Bank Seán Fitzpatrick, with that of a constituent of his in danger of having his home repossessed.
Following the reporting of the Dáil debate in the newspapers, Mr Fingleton wrote to Ceann Comhairle Séamus Kirk on October 24th seeking an apology from Mr Kehoe for what he described as defamatory allegations.
After receiving the letter Mr Kirk asked Mr Kehoe if he would apologise, but the Fine Gael TD made it clear that he had no intention of doing so.