Low-paid civil servants taking hit for ‘gilded elite’

LOW-PAID public servants were the victims of deliberate double standards which saw a “gilded elite” earning six-figure salaries escape the same wage cuts, Fine Gael said last night.

The party’s finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, accused ministers of bending the rules and offering nonsensical explanations for why senior civil servants were spared the full force of salary reductions.

Despite Finance Minister Brian Lenihan saying civil servants earning over €125,000 would see their salaries reduced by between 8% and 15%, his department slipped out a change to the budget proposals for about 160 civil servants just before Christmas.

The department said cuts for deputy secretary and assistant secretary grades should include the average 10% these civil servants lost when a bonus scheme was terminated last year, resulting in a cut of a much smaller percentage.

Mr Bruton said as many as 655 senior civil servants would benefit from the “double standards”.

“It is unfair because it means people on the lowest pay in the public service will see a reduction in their take-home pay of 5%, but these privileged people will escape with just a third of that cut.

“It is unjustified, because it flies in the face of the recommendation of the Independent Review Group on higher remuneration which recommended a cut of between 8% and 12% for this group.

“Explanations offered by the Government as to why the decision was made have ranged from the incredible to the downright inaccurate. The defence of this decision offered by Government simply does not stand up to scrutiny,” he told TDs as Fine Gael raised the “scandal” at a special adjournment debate on the matter.