Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I accept that the Government and the Minister should not intervene in every industrial relations dispute that arises. It is a question of judgment when the intervention should take place. Where there is a dispute and an employer is involved, the approach outlined by the Taoiseach is appropriate. In this particular case, because of the extent of the dispute, the degree to which it involves employers and contractors directly and the knock-on effect for other employment and the wider economy, it is appropriate that the Government underlines the seriousness with which it takes the dispute and underlines the urgency that the Government should give to having it resolved by using the powers available under the Industrial Relations Act to bring people together.

Sometimes, when a dispute goes on for a bit, positions become entrenched and people say things that are difficult to resile from, while others are willing to throw oil on troubled waters. Where people are not talking to each other, are not willing to talk for whatever reason and we do not how long it will go on, there is a necessity for somebody to knock heads together. I suggest this is one of the occasions where the Government, through the Tánaiste, should use the services of the Labour Court or the Labour Relations Commission to knock heads together and achieve an early settlement.

The dispute will be settled eventually and it will be settled by people sitting down, talking to each other, working out the complexity of the issues involved and agreeing a settlement. It is better that the settlement of the dispute is secured earlier rather than later, in order to minimise the damage that a prolonged dispute will do to those involved, their employers and the wider economy.

See this speech in context