Harris the latest to take 10% pay cut
But speaking in the Seanad yesterday, he said he could not advocate such reform without setting an example himself. He therefore announced he was taking a 10% pay cut, meaning his salary of €70,133 will fall to circa €63,000.
“It would be hypocritical of me to go on criticising the public service and this need for reform and looking for pay freezes without addressing the matter myself,” Mr Harris said.
“As a former trade unionist, I hate doing this. People should be able to keep the money they earn. [But] I do not think anybody understands the seriousness of the economic situation of the country,” he said.
Mr Harris said he had little faith in a forthcoming report examining recommendations for public service reform. The report, compiled by senior civil servants and independent experts, is due to go before cabinet shortly.
The Government had produced a budget in which “highly paid civil servants were left off the hook while pensioners were put through the mill”, he wrote recently.
“We can neither borrow nor spend our way out of [the financial] crisis. The cushioned class, the public sector class, must share the private sector pain,” he said.
