Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Deputies and Secretaries General should not get restoration but the lower paid should. The legislation is based on a series of lies. The first is that the financial emergency and the recession were caused by overspending on public sector workers. That is not true. However, the solution was to cut pay, pensions and working conditions. These people include nurses, doctors, firefighters and teachers; those on whom the State relies. We were told that they bankrupted the country and that we had to go after them and their gold-plated pensions. I do not think so. The one person who will go with a gold-plated pension is Deputy Enda Kenny when he retires. He will probably do that soon and he will have a very nice pension.

More lies are required, including the pretence, as has been mentioned, that we are in a financial emergency. We are not. The gentle unwinding of the FEMPI legislation is forcing these cuts. We were told that the roof would fall in if we eliminated the legislation and Brexit is being used as a stick with which to beat us.

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