Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy should know that one of the great strengths of our system of collective bargaining, which is voluntary in nature, is that management and unions can discuss issues within the provisions of Towards 2016 every week, seeking improvements for workers and changes for employers. That happens in most of our State and private companies all of the time. Each Friday a list is published of cases which are at various stages of negotiation. There could be 50 or 60 companies on that list. That is just part of the normal process.

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