Mr. Shay Cody:

During the difficult times people's incomes were under significant pressure. We are all aware of circumstances where people were literally put to the pin of their collars. At a meeting during this period a person told me that it came down to filling the tank with oil or paying the union subscription. That was the personal life choice this person had to deal with. There was an element of that in the difficult days. Union membership is growing again in the context of income recovery and so on. As Mr. O'Connor has said, this is not really a matter of the State subsiding trade union membership. It is simply a matter of holding us in parity of esteem with other representative bodies that are not shy about coming in here looking for various things on behalf of their members.