Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. It is worth noting that Fianna Fáil voted with the Government on the very issue about which it is now protesting-----

Check it out with teddy.

I want to deal with the issue of the negotiations for the successor to the Croke Park agreement. I took note that the Government gave notice of compulsory redundancies in the public sector at the beginning of those negotiations and then the Taoiseach gave notice that he would legislate for pay cuts. He must know this is not the way to engage in good faith. Lower and middle income public sector workers have seen their pay significantly reduced between pay cuts and the Fianna Fáil pension levy, and there are now two, or perhaps even three, tiers of pay for workers doing exactly the same job. That is the type of inequality the Taoiseach is now deepening within the public sector. Public sector workers are generally working harder, longer and for less money, particularly those at the front line who have seen their numbers reduced during the past two years. By contrast, and here is the rub, those at the top have been protected. Bonanza pay and pensions remain in place-----

That is rubbish.

-----and this Government still pays the pay cap for its special advisers. Why is the Government disproportionately targeting front-line workers for more cuts when those workers have already contributed so much? Will the Taoiseach now move to tackle the gold plated pensions and high pay still being enjoyed by the current Taoiseach and former taoisigh, Ministers, officeholders, special advisers and senior civil servants?

What the Deputy has to bear in mind is that our deficit this year is €12 billion, next year it is expected to be €9 billion, and in 2015 it is expected to be just over €5 billion. We need to move to a point where the country can start to recruit front-line workers again and where we have sorted out the public financial mess we have inherited for quite some time.

The reductions in pay for those on the higher levels have ranged between 3% and 30%. On the other issues the Deputy raised, when they are seen in terms of the complete package, we will focus on the fact that there is not any individual sector being targeted deliberately by Government. The talks that are ongoing-----

Tell that to the nurses and to the gardaí.

-----are reaching a crucial stage-----

They are in breach of the Croke Park agreement.

Deputy McGrath, please desist.

-----and are about the definition of where we want to be in a couple of years. The Deputy can talk about individual sectors if he wishes, but these talks are about an across the board situation where fairness is to be seen at the heart of it and where we can bring about the reductions we have set out of €1 billion by 2015 to sort out our public financial problem and allow for a situation where recruitment can take place in the future to front-line services.

I listened to many of the comments yesterday and I know that people can be very angry about these things.

And rightly so.

The person who stands in front of a classroom who may not be called out at night is also a front-line server, a front-line service person, and the person who works in critical elements of a local authority or Departments of State who might never be called out at night on front-line duty, as it were, is also a front-line person. There is no question of the Government focusing particularly on one sector here. This is an overall wage negotiation between Government and public service workers and, from that point of view, we have set our course here to rectify our public financial problems. Despite the very good news coming from the agreement of the ECB in regard to the promissory note, clearly the situation is still challenging for the country and we have to stay the course here in the interests of everybody.

The Taoiseach talked about fairness but there is very little that is fair about how this Government does its business. There is nothing fair about those in the upper echelons of the public service having such big salaries while all the time those in the lower echelons are subjected to cuts to pay and to these negotiations where the Government has already set out its objective - if it does not get its way in these talks - of bringing in its own diktats. We think that negotiations on increased flexibility are fair enough but they must be done in the context of the contribution of the work that rank and file public servants are doing and have done in tackling this crisis. Attacking pay from the bottom up is not a reform and it is certainly not fair. Senior managers and officeholders, like the Taoiseach, are paid more than their European counterparts.

When the Prime Minister of France was elected he took a pay cut, voluntarily, of 30%. The Taoiseach took a pay cut of 6%. He cannot say that nurses, gardaí, fire officers, teachers and others who provide a very valuable service need to contribute more than those at the top while those at the top continue to be protected. In his own Department, two special advisers are paid €168,000 and in the Department of Social Protection, the special adviser is paid €127,000. That is the nub of my question - how can the Taoiseach credibly call for cuts in the negotiations while those at the upper level continue to have lavish pay and pension rights which are protected by the Government?

Deputy Adams can get the details of all of the changes that have been made in regard to pay and pensions for higher-paid public servants. As I said already and repeat again, for the higher ranks the pay reductions range from between 3% and 30%. In the case of position I occupy, the salary is 40% lower than it was for the person who occupied it before me.

That is not correct. It is not 40% lower.

A lot of what went on in the past has been eliminated. I still walk to work in the morning and walk home in the evening. Unlike Deputy Adams, none of the advisers in the Department of the Taoiseach have had the privilege of having their fare paid to America for medical attention they sought there.

The Taoiseach is not paying for that.