Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)

I fully accept that national agreements have to be about a wider vision of society. In fairness if one looks at the work various unions have done in terms of the wider economy and society generally, they have produced a good deal of material in that area. It was clear from the recent talks that the Government had no vision about where the country was going. There was an over-emphasis on cuts without any wider vision and without setting down any principles for protecting the weakest, ensuring the economy was positioned for an upturn, that training and education would be available to those who had lost their jobs, the need for a stimulus package and all those wider issues. It appears to me that the Taoiseach took a decision last Friday to collapse those talks - it is something his predecessor, for all his faults, would not have allowed to happen - and he has plunged the country into very serious industrial relations problems for the coming year. What now is his position in regard to social partnership? For example, what is the status of the Towards 2016 agreement and the Towards 2016 review and the transitional agreement concluded in September 2008? Do these documents have any standing now?

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