Mr. John King:

I respect Senator Quinn's views. It may not be a surprise to him that I am diametrically opposed to them. As I have stated repeatedly, all low-paid workers and the vast majority of other workers in our economy have gone without a pay increase for a significant period and have shouldered a significant burden in terms of the adjustment in our economy. I do not want to go any further into the matter. There are different views.

We ask that where the Oireachtas approves and decides on policy, low-paid workers in certain sectors of the economy should be covered by collective bargaining agreements to give them some equality of influence in their bargaining power with employers. Some employers refuse to engage. We ask the Oireachtas not to accept that and to define the means by which the Labour Court is guided to deal with that. Interested groups have been before the committee which are happy to take revenue out of our hard-pressed Exchequer at a cost of some €350 million per year and take from the State by way of what is paid to Bord Fáilte and other organisations to fund their advertising campaigns and so on. They gladly take favourable Government policies, yet refuse to accept others. Within the JLC structure is the means by which engagement can take place to reach agreement on issues about pay and conditions of employment.