David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The key driver of industrial disputes and threatened industrial action, in An Garda Síochána, teachers, nurses etc., has been the issue of restoring the public sector to a single-tier pay structure or equal pay for equal work. I have met Mr. Watt and the Minister a number of times on this issue and have tried to get a costing for returning the public service to a single-tier pay structure. We were given a figure of €208 million but it was not dealt with in the extension of the Lansdowne Road agreement. It is extraordinary to have an agreement seeking to maintain industrial peace but which failed to deal with the driver of a lot of the industrial unrest which still looms in some unions. It is extraordinary that this one key issue was not dealt with. We have a recruitment problem in some areas of the public service but the issue of new entrants was not dealt with. Can Mr. Watt explain why? Notwithstanding any requests from the trade union movement, did the Department have its own priorities going into public sector pay talks? Why was returning the public service to a single-tier pay structure not a priority issue for the Department?