Ms Patricia King:

I do not believe consolidation will be easy. There are those in the establishment who would view it negatively. The manner in which the whole issue of allowances has been handled, in which we were basically handed a list of what is to be eliminated without any prior notification, is a significant challenge to the Croke Park agreement. The agreement is a collective agreement between employees and employers. The operation of another procedure alongside it is a big challenge to the agreement. When the procedures are not used on the employer side due to its view that it is curtailed by them, this adds a big challenge to making the agreement work.

It never fails to amaze me when I hear some local authority or health sector manager make arguments about removing allowances. All they want is a smash and grab, taking the money to resolve their budgetary issues.

They have made up their minds that that is the way they are going to resolve that budgetary issue. It never fails to amaze me that they have not thought that if they managed the place or restructured a little better, they might not have to grab this money from the lower paid. I gave the Greystones to Glencree example. If they want to do it properly, there is another way of doing so - in other words, they should use their heads and start to manage the issue. It is unbelievable in some cases how much that is lacking in the system. The easiest thing to do is to go after the person at the lowest level and grab the money.