Public servants enjoyed 'golden era' decade of pay

THE INCOMES of many public servants had doubled in 10 years, Minister of State for Finance Dr Martin Mansergh told the Dáil.

Dr Mansergh referred to “a golden era’’ of public service unions and their members. “If the deputies care to pick up the pay rates for any job in the public service they care to name, whether low-, medium- or high-paid . . . I accept these are skewed towards the medium- and high-paid and include all members of this House among the high-paid variety – they will see that at minimum substantial increases and, in many cases, a doubling of income in 10 years.”

Dr Mansergh said that, unfortunately, because of circumstances, those increases had not proved sustainable and, to keep the ship afloat, adjustments had to be made. “Nobody likes doing this, but it must be done,’’ he added.

The Minister of State was speaking during the debate on the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (No 2) Bill, which implements the reductions in pay for public servants.

Dr Mansergh said that at most levels, and by most international comparisons, public servants were well-rewarded. “In approximately 10 years, their numbers increased from significantly more than 200,000 to significantly more than 300,000.’’

It was worth quoting, he said, some salary figure progressions between 2000 and 2009. A staff officer had earned the equivalent of €23,000 and now earned almost €37,000 at the starting point of the scale.

The salary of a secretary general of a Government department had increased from €121,000 to €221,000 in the same period, while grade-three engineers were up from €22,000 to €32,000, “a rather smaller increase of 45 per cent’’, said Dr Mansergh.

He added that a clerical officer, standard scale, earned €15,227 in 2000 and now received €23,174.

“The salaries of deputies may interest us in this House,’’ Dr Mansergh said. “In 2000, the starting figure was £39,000, or €49,000; today, it is €100,000. Senators earned £24,000 and today earn €70,000.’’

He said that ministerial salaries had increased from the equivalent of €116,000 to €231,000.

“Therefore, there were significant real increases at the bottom of the scale and something of a pay bonanza in the upper reaches . . . and the scale of adjustments in this Bill, at the higher end, reflect that,’’ said Dr Mansergh. “Benchmarking and higher remuneration were part of the process.”

The perception 10 years ago, he added, was that the private sector was powering away, but those who worked in the public sector, although their outputs were less tangible, believed they were doing work just as valuable and productive.

“However, the private sector is more volatile. There have been job losses and income cuts,’’ he said.

“There is no guaranteed income beyond the minimum wage, and if one is self-employed or a small farmer, there is no guarantee of even that.’’

Private pension provision was now “a poor cousin’’ of public service provision, he added.

Dr Mansergh said that when the country was “awash with money, we overcommitted ourselves and awarded salaries that we are not now in a position to sustain’’.

The legislation, he said, was not based on any hostility towards public servants, adding that “public servant” was a title of which he was most proud as it was a unifying thread that joined up a number of different roles.

He said that his experience of the Civil Service had been a very good one.

Dr Mansergh said that change, reform and economies were needed on an ongoing basis.