Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

——nor has there been criticism from any of my colleagues of the Minister, Deputy Harney.

The position with the nurses is that there have been long negotiations. I have no time to go into the matter in detail, but the INO and the PNA state that they have neither accepted nor rejected the Labour Court recommendation, which urged both unions to progress their claims through benchmarking. They have left the position in limbo. The other unions have accepted the social partnership process.

The INO and the PNA have put forward a lengthy number of claims which more recently seem to boil down to two issues. Both of those issues are extremely costly on the Exchequer. With their knock-on effect, the cost would range from between €500 million and €1 billion. Deputy Rabbitte will accept that nobody can negotiate on that basis.

The Deputy asked what is our position. There is no doubt about the major contribution which nurses make to the health care system. Neither is there any doubt about the Government's commitment to ensuring that nurses are paid properly and fairly for the work they do. We recognise that there are issues of concern to nurses and that they perceive that there are significant inequities in their current position. They have highlighted what those issues are to the HSE and to the negotiating body. I have acknowledged, as has the Minister for Health and Children, that these problems must be addressed. How they are addressed is the only issue in contention.

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