Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

If he wishes his discussions with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, to be meaningful and if he wishes to avoid having strikes, strife and public unrest in this country, he must level with the unions about the figures because in January he agreed a figure of €2 billion with them. That figure is now gone, with the levy and the other measures. On day one, when the Taoiseach goes to talk to the unions, he must tell them this because that is the first question they will ask. They will ask what the current figure is, what the Government is trying to achieve and what are the implications for taxation, jobs and pay — all the issues about which they are concerned. If he intends to tell this to ICTU in discussions in Government Buildings, then he should tell this House what is the target.

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