Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Just for clarification, my point was that those inside the Lansdowne Road agreement have now benefited from the militancy, people power, determination to campaign or whatever one wants to call it, of the teachers and the gardaí. To my mind, it is a vindication of the decision of those workers to fight for proper pay restoration. There is a belated acknowledgment on the Minister's part, forced on him by the teachers and the gardaí, that accelerated pay restoration was necessary. Frankly, more is necessary and sooner because even with this accelerated pay restoration, all these public service workers affected will still be earning less than they were before the austerity started. Eight years after austerity started, public sector workers are still earning less than they were before all this.

I believe in the right to pursue immediate pay restoration. My point is that it has taken action by the teachers and the gardaí to do that because the Minister resisted it all the way along the line. It should not be financed by shaving corners off other stretched budgets.