Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Thankfully, the number of trade union members has increased in the past year although it dipped sharply over a number of years prior to that. The cost of €26 million was based on a trade union membership of 511,000 rather than the current membership of 437,000. In that context, a cost of €26 million is probably on the high end given that it was based on a larger membership.