Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

If I may reply to Deputy Kenny, the intrinsic merit, worth and value of that remains because it is against the background of much tightened financial constraints on Government - on any Government. The issue of having to provide new ways forward that will not only maintain services and improve them for service-users, where possible, but also improve the work and the environment of service-providers and provide the flexibility and the operational co-operation between departments would be of benefit. These are important matters which need to be considered for the future. It is a question of ensuring a permanent outcome and being able to identify at this point where the 2011 savings would come, knowing the change management agenda, as ambitious as it is compared to previous agreements. The amount of money that would unlock in 2010 would not make up the difference in the bridging mechanism to which Deputy Kenny referred. Therefore, certainty about where we were going in 2011 and subsequently was not achieved at that point.

The Deputy referred to the unpaid leave issue. I did not make any public utterances at any time last week. In the course of last Tuesday, the idea emerged from some comments I heard subsequently that the strike was not going ahead on the basis that a deal had been done. That was not the position. I do not believe that, in all the circumstances and on reflection, if people were in the same position again today that position would be advisable or regarded as wise because it created a context in the negotiations which made agreement even more difficult. The message seemed to be conveyed by some, not necessarily those who were in the prime negotiating position, that a deal had been done and it was only a matter of tying up loose ends.

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