Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has come before the committee and recommended that the two sides sit down together with a blank sheet of paper. However, those involved on one side will have it hanging over their heads that if they do not agree to pay cuts of up to €7,000 a year for some of the workers, it it will happen unilaterally within 18 days. The Minister does not think it would be in the interests of genuine negotiations to have that proposal withdrawn.