Mr. Paul Bell:

Okay. I will defer to the Chairman as he is in charge. With regard to Deputy Durkan's comments, the pay link determines the reduction in salary. It was fully understood. When the pay cuts came it was via a pay linkage, as confirmed by the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar on 8 November. Pay linkage existed. That is the cause of that.

Reference was made to whether the HSE submitted an application to the Department of Health for foreseen wage increases. It is my understanding that it did and it was rejected.

On whether other groups of workers would follow on from this, that is another myth that has been put out there. The only workers entitled to have this compensation are the ones with pay linkages. They are the only workers the Labour Court will have entertained. If the services start to collapse they fall back to the Health Service Executive as the statutory health provider.