Mr. Jerry King:

Like Ms Clarke, I am a public servant. I work in the Castlebar library in County Mayo and in any other library within the county to which I am sent on a daily basis. I am also an activist with Fórsa. On behalf of the members who are covering for me today, I thank our Deputies who are on this committee - Deputies Calleary and Lisa Chambers - for their professional and courteous reception and hearings on this matter to date. The rest of the committee's members have been equally courteous and professional with those of our members who have approached them. I thank them for that.

From my point of view and that of those whom I represent in this and other unions, our business today is precisely what all of us and every committee member seeks, namely, equity and fairness. It is as simple as that. I ask that the committee consider the initial reason for the 2001 introduction of tax relief on trade union subscriptions. As the then Minister stated, it was done to recognise the key role that the trade unions played in delivering economic and social cohesion for the wider society and fair play for members.

We all know what happened after that eight years later and how ordinary people and workers, especially lower paid workers, suffered. It is easy, looking back, to forget the critical role that Irish trade unions played during the economic disaster and the subsequent recovery. There were many arguments within the trade union movement, but it decided ultimately to work with Government and not against it. Public servants continued to deliver excellence, and new innovations were brought in that in many ways are far ahead of the public services in other countries. That is certainly the case in the library service I work in.

The then Minister for Finance was entirely correct. The trade unions have a key role. Another Minister for Finance abolished the relief in 2011. We all know why that happened, and we had to accept that in the interests of the greater good at the time. This hurt workers, on top of all the other cuts, but we understood and were patient, and we waited our turn. We waited eight years, and we made submissions through the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU. Our members are now energised about this, and it is gaining traction. They are saying that it is a matter of fairness in society and for workers, and it is about recognising their contribution. We now want the relief to be restored. It is a matter of fairness. We believe in fairness, and I am convinced that public representatives of every party actually believe in fairness too.