John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There is a danger that we have regressed to a situation where it is only appropriate to pay an individual who is incredibly skilled and suited to an organisation a certain amount and that a pay level above and beyond that figure is not being tolerated. Negative results accrue from this. That is not taken into consideration. Mr. Goulding has made it very clear that there was no contrivance to avoid public pay policy, but some of these organisations - not the Central Remedial Clinic - knew very well what the limits were and felt that in some cases individuals who had that skills set or management ability needed to be paid more. Somebody might make the case that if one paid an individual €1 million, that might make it possible to save €2 million down the road. That element of the debate does not take place.