Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

Yesterday morning and again this morning, 60,000 Dublin commuters could not get a bus to work. If this dispute in Dublin Bus escalates, more people will be unable to get a bus to work. On top of that there are reports that there may be strikes in Aer Lingus. The Taoiseach is responding to questions on social partnership, which is supposed to resolve those disputes and ensure we do not have industrial action over matters such as rosters, tea breaks and changes in work practices.

As a result of these disputes, are we witnessing the unravelling of the social partnership process? Has the Taoiseach contributed to such unravelling? I note the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance asked for wage restraint at Farmleigh last week. Does the Taoiseach not have a hard neck to ask the social partners for wage restraint in circumstances in which he is not prepared to exercise it himself? What does he have to say in respect of the comment made by Mr. David Begg, who is not known for overstatement, to the effect that the Taoiseach's plea for wage restraint lacked credibility on foot of the ministerial pay increases? Is it not the case that the industrial disputes that are beginning to emerge and which resemble an echo from the past are, to some extent, an indicator of a worsening industrial relations climate to which the Taoiseach has contributed personally?

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