Here we go again. With less than three weeks to go before the Taoiseach hands the keys of his office back to the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, the Fine Gael Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, has opened the door to the return of big pay for top bankers. This move will pave the way for bumper pay increases for the top brass at bailed-out banks. We are talking about senior banking executives who already earn €500,000. It seems former Fine Gael Ministers who slipped out of government and into the roles of banking lobbyists have done their job very well.

Hear, hear.

Nobody should be surprised because this is straight out of the Fine Gael playbook - delivering for those in high places while ordinary people struggle to make ends meet.

This would be a bad call at any time, but there is something twisted about allowing big pay hikes for wealthy bankers while workers and families endure an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. It is a real kick in the teeth for ordinary people.

There was a segment on RTÉ radio this morning, which was absolutely heart-breaking. It contained interviews with people who now rely on food banks to ensure that they and their children get a decent meal. One woman spoke about how she will have to go into debt on household bills in order to ensure that her kids have a nice Christmas. Is that not an awful dilemma for any parent? However, that is the reality of what people are facing as Fine Gael prepares to resume leadership of the Government by looking after the top brass in the banks.

We have all been here before. We have seen where gratuitous pay of bankers and the self-serving behaviour of big banks led us before. It led us to financial disaster, economic crash and social catastrophe. For the banks, it meant an enormous rescue package funded out of public moneys to the tune of €45 billion. For workers and families, it meant austerity. For the most vulnerable, it meant the most vicious of cuts. Fine Gael took away the respite care and bereavement grants and cut child benefit.

After all the damage was done, did the banks learn their lesson? Did they hell. No, they did not. We only need to look at the tracker mortgage scandal, with thousands overcharged for their mortgages. Hundreds of people lost their homes and lives were destroyed as a result. Even when the banks were caught red-handed, they continued to do harm. This year alone, AIB and Bank of Ireland were fined over €197 million for regulatory breaches and actions that led to families losing their homes. The tracker mortgage scandal is not distant history; it happened in recent years. To this day, not one banker has been held accountable for this scandal.

Buille uafásach is ea cinneadh an Aire, an Teachta Donohoe, chun pá mór a cheadú do bhaincéirí, d’oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh atá ag streachailt chun teacht i dtír. Níor cheart leis dul ar aghaidh. The Minister for Finance's decision is essentially to reward top bankers despite all the damage that was done. He is clearly completely out of touch with what ordinary people are going through. Fine Gael is clearly out of touch with all of that. My question is simple. Why is the Taoiseach going along with this? How can he defend it? How can he tell those struggling to heat their homes or put food on the table that a banker’s salary of €500,000 is not enough?

In the first instance, the outcome of the retail banking review is an important piece of work. It contains 34 recommendations. We have gone from 13 retail banks down to three. The banking landscape has changed dramatically. The report is worth reading, and the Deputy should read it in its entirety. There are very interesting recommendations, including recommending that Government would put into legislation that citizens would have access to cash. In other words, that there would be a legislative obligation on banks to ensure access to cash for citizens. Some extremely interesting surveys were done into how people want access to cash even though they are using more digital mechanisms. This, of course, relates to the retail banking network and the availability of ATMs. It is a very important outcome of this review, along with consumer protection and the competition issue, the future of banking and changing technology in banks. The non-bank sector is an issue we have to address. These are all recommendations that have emanated from here.

Freagair an cheist.

The Opposition has decided to deal with only one item. The review recommends the introduction of variable pay of up to €20,000 and for the provision of standard non-pay benefits for all employees in the three banks. There are 20,000 people working in the three retail banks. Why is the Opposition, including Sinn Féin, against ordinary workers in the banking sector from getting a pay rise? That is what the Deputy is saying and that is what she said this morning. If anybody is trying to kick the teeth of anybody else, she is kicking the teeth of the ordinary bank workers of this country.

John O’Connell, the general secretary of the union for workers in the banks, is saying very clearly that the lifting of the restrictions on variable pay and benefits will benefit ordinary bank staff. That is what he is saying and that is clear. Restrictions are causing difficulties with staff recruitment and retention especially in the new critical areas of IT and cybersecurity. Remember that the HSE is now estimating that the cybersecurity attack on its operations last year will potentially cost up to €100 million in the areas of compliance and legal functions.

They are competing with big banks in the international and financial services sector for many of these staff. It is interesting that nearly one third of workers who are leaving banks indicate that reward is a key reason for quitting. Between 40% and 45% of workers in the sector who have left have received variable pay as part of their package with their new employer. All of this is in the review. That is a key issue that the Deputy has simply ignored because she thinks that it plays well for her electorally just to talk about the top brass, the big banker-----

The Taoiseach has abandoned the pensioners.

-----and to keep the debate at that level, but not to look more seriously at the issues that the review brings out.

There are 34 recommendations in this review. It has changed dramatically. Parallel with that, last week, the Government published the credit union Bill. The Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, has done excellent work in this regard. This review states that the credit union has significant potential now in terms of mortgages, small and medium sized businesses, SMEs, and other issues. That is the raison d’être.

In terms of the Bank of Ireland and the restriction on the higher level of remuneration, that bank is now completely independent of the Government and it has paid back everything that it was given by the Government. It is independent of the Government. We are not giving anyone any pay at all.

€500,000 is not enough.

I am sure that the Taoiseach’s new-found concern for the ordinary bank workers is very welcome. The banks are of course profitable and they should pay their staff correctly.

But you will not-----

Dodging the answer.

The review states: "In practice, the €500,000 pay cap applies to the few within the banks that hold the most senior management positions, such as the CEO and other senior executives". The Taoiseach is proposing to remove that cap so do not create an alibi or hide behind ordinary bank clerks----

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

-----in a bid to defend the indefensible. I have put it to the Taoiseach on this specific matter that the removal of this pay cap, as though €500,000 is not enough for a senior banker, Fine Gael, true to form, wants to bust through that and go back to the bad old days when bankers could earn obscene amounts of money in their salary and obscene bonuses. The culture has not changed one iota within the Irish banking system. I have asked the Taoiseach on that issue how he stands behind that. How does he defend that? This is the Fine Gael Minister for Finance’s last throw of the dice in favour of the very wealthy and the overpaid, while ordinary people struggle.

I found the Deputy’s last comment in the last segment of her question very intriguing. She is basically saying that, unlike other sectors, unlike the financial services sector, that ordinary workers in the banks are not or should not be entitled to variable pay.

That is not what she is saying.

That is clearly what she is saying, because she said that they just be paid the basic salary and that is it.

No she did not.

That is not what she said at all.

Can the Taoiseach answer my question?

That is what the Deputy said, and it is a very important point because of the core recommendation from the banking review that the Government has accepted.

I have asked the Taoiseach about the €500,000.

The Deputy is saying that the ordinary bank worker is not entitled-----

-----to the variable pay or indeed is not entitled to standard benefits-----

What banker requires €500,000?

Please, let the Taoiseach speak.

-----in terms of the variable of €20,000.

Can the Taoiseach clarify what banker requires €500,000?

Let the Taoiseach speak.

He is clearly not answering my question.

In terms of the cap for the CEO, that relates to one bank under this recommendation, which is the Bank of Ireland.

Instead he was closing the bank branches.

Read the report.

Read the report.

Read it, because that is exactly as it is. That bank is not owned by the State and it has no share in that bank.

€500,000 is not enough.

The bottom line is that it has to compete with other, bigger banks that operate in financial services in this country and which employ thousands of people-----

The Taoiseach's friends.

-----and with technology companies that can offer far higher rates of pay. There is a fundamental issue there as well.

And according to the Taoiseach, the banks were never bailed out in the first place. Is that not right? Give them the bonuses and the pay. They were never bailed out in the first place.

Sinn Féin went for direct action in its time.