Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is very important to point out that increments are pay. It is all money. I have allocated €300 million for additional pay next year, to begin this process. That goes into the base and a further €300 million is expected in each of the following two years, incrementally building up, as Deputy Fleming pointed out, to €900 million over the three years. Next year that amounts to €300 million out of a fiscal space of €750 million. I was very significantly criticised for embarking on that in advance of the budget, for trying to have a settled public sector pay agreement before I presented the budget. The Deputy cannot have it every way.

Bluntly, in order to meet fiscal rules under which we live, there is a finite amount of money that can be afforded. I have set out to the trade unions representing public sector workers what I think is a fair deal. I have listened to their arguments and have amended the proposals on foot of negotiations. The public sector committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions balloted its members and accepted what is here. What is before us today is, in legislative form, the collective agreement negotiated and agreed with the public sector unions. It is as simple as that. This section aims to ensure that we have normal discipline in the way the public sector operates. We cannot simply have anybody, be it an individual union or an individual worker, saying, "I only want the good bits. I want full pay restoration, I want my increments and everything else but I am not bound by other bits of it". The collective agreement is collective in its totality. That is the way it has always been, that unions negotiate and sign off. The majority voted in favour within all of the unions that voted, with some voting against. That is the position as of now.

If we stay the course, our economy will continue to improve and we can make further improvements in this area, hopefully before the expiry of the Landsdowne Road agreement. Certainly, if I am in a position to do so, I will try to do that but we will have to see how the economic landscape looks in one year and two year's time.