Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I just want to ask two more questions very quickly.

The delegates said they have not identified what routes will be cut. That seems a bit strange seeing that they have identified what needs to be done with the workers. It raises the question as to whether management is keeping the information hidden until it is too late to do anything.

I want answers to all my questions but my main question concerns the fact that we have called repeatedly for all stakeholders to be involved. Does management agree to set aside the inflammatory preconditions it put to workers and sent to unions last week to allow space for third-party intervention? If the delegates are genuine and serious, as they say they are, they will realise it is not unreasonable to allow a space to be created for engagement. Will they commit today on the public record to allowing for third-party intervention and for engagement to begin without preconditions? If they do not, this will head down only one road, and they know where that road is. If they do not give a commitment today to engage without preconditions, one can only ask whether this was the plan all along. If they are sincere and genuine, they should commit on the public record today, given what they know lies ahead. Perhaps their stance is deliberate but they should prove to me it is not by giving on the public record an absolute commitment to engage in such a way as to allow for third-party intervention without the derogatory, demeaning and provocative preconditions.