Abolishing pension levy the priority in public pay talks – Siptu chief

Abolishing the pension levy should be the priority in talks to restore pay and pensions of public servants, Siptu general president Jack O’Connor has said.

“I think it is probably the best thing to start with,’’ he added.

"There seems to be some agreement from the other side, the Government, in statements emanating from some people in Fine Gael. ''

Talks between the Government and unions on restoring pay levels for about 300,000 staff across the public service get under way on Tuesday.

Asked if Oireachtas members should receive any agreed increases, he replied: "I think people in public life, at that level, should refrain from taking pay increases.''

He said he would not be receiving any pay increase.

Speaking at the annual James Connolly commemoration in Arbour Hill, Dublin, on Sunday, Mr O'Connor said the emphasis in the talks should be on the lower paid.

On Government economic policy, he said there was no case whatsoever for cutting the top rate of tax, adding that available resources should be concentrated on reducing the universal social charge (USC) on pay rates up to the standard rate-band threshold.

Property tax

He said an efficient public service would be achieved by rewarding and incentivising the people who work in it and not battering them into the ground.

In his speech at the the commemoration ceremony earlier, Mr O'Connor said Labour must not allow the next general election to descend into a contest between one set of tax cuts versus another. That would ultimately serve the interests of the better off, instead of a choice between alternative visions for the future of society, he added.

“Abolishing property tax is no more socially progressive than cutting the top rate of income tax,’’ said Mr O’Connor.

“This is especially so in a country where the levels of public investment have been dramatically reduced over the crisis years and in which they compared unfavourably as a percentage of GDP with developed European countries even before the collapse occurred.’’

He said as resources became available in a recovering economy, there should be a reinstatement of public investment in a 2:1 ratio at which it was cut vis-a-vis the increase in taxation during the fiscal adjustment.

He said other small countries in Europe, such as Denmark, were able to combine the highest level of public provision, while maintaining one of the most dynamic and competitive economies in the world.