THE BENCHMARKING process boosting public service pay has been criticised by Minister of State for Finance Dr Martin Mansergh.

He said that in the late 1990s, private sector pay at higher levels was powering ahead and those in the public sector felt they were losing out.

Those at the top felt they were of as much value to society, if not more, than many of their private sector counterparts.

“Whether that was true, that kind of benchmarking was misguided and those who work in public service need to go back to the ethos that it has an intrinsic value that can never be measured by salary levels, bonuses or other prerequisites,” Dr Mansergh added.

“When I joined the public service by open competition in 1974, there was no such thing as bonuses and the public service was the better for it.”

He said that Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan had expressed the belief that pay at leadership levels in the public sector should be more in line with pay in other countries, rather than with top-level private sector pay in this country which had become over-inflated in recent years and was now falling in any event.

“The Minister has defined in a nutshell what has gone wrong over the past decade or so,” he added.

Dr Mansergh, who was speaking during the resumed Budget debate, said it was accepted that the cost of overheads in Government expenditure had to be tackled.

“The political system has to give leadership and show example.”

Dr Mansergh said he was on record since January as suggesting that the numbers of Ministers of State be reduced to 15, corresponding with the number of senior Ministers.

“I reiterated that view only a fortnight ago in the debate on the Fine Gael private members motion, while stressing that decision was for the Taoiseach and the Government,” he added.

“There is no doubt that the tasks of Government have increased and that, despite public and media perceptions to the contrary, existing Ministers of State are kept fully occupied and have important sectoral and delegated responsibilities.”

That, he said, was the justification put forward when the rainbow coalition increased the numbers of Ministers of State by two to 17 in December 1994.

The same justification was used when the number of Ministers of State was increased by former taoiseach Bertie Ahern to 20 in 2007, a situation inherited by the present Taoiseach.

“Current circumstances have compelled us to review this,” he added.

Dr Mansergh said that the reduction in the number of Ministers of State would also be accompanied by a reduction in a variety of Oireachtas allowances and paid positions.

“In my view, all of these reforms are welcome, as they change for the better aspects of our mode of operation which detract from public regard for the Oireachtas,” he said. Reform would enable elected politicians to “respond more firmly to those who would denigrate our core democratic institutions”.