Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Government will give an up-to-date assessment of its view on the current budgetary and fiscal challenges. When one looks at public expenditure in general, one notes that, in broad terms, one third of public money is spent on social welfare and social services, one third is spent on public sector pay and pensions and one third is spent on the provision of services. Our first aim is to try to stabilise the level of deficit that currently exists, in line with what we submitted to the European Commission on foot of our recent discussions with Commissioner Almunia. Deputies will agree that such action is important not only for the sake of the finances and economy of this country, but also for the signal it sends to those who invest their funds. Now that we have a large deficit, we need to show that we are prepared to take the necessary steps to effect national recovery more quickly than would otherwise be the case, without putting at risk many of the advances we have made. Therefore, no area of expenditure is immune from consideration in this respect.

We will put our assessment of the situation to the social partners. We will hear what they have to say about that. I am prepared to work with people on the basis that we have a job to do and a scaled adjustment to achieve. I will listen to any ideas or views people may have about how best to achieve that adjustment in a way that minimises the impact on the delivery of services. If we examine the situation as we have traditionally done during the Estimates process - by seeking savings in the context of the provision of services only, on the basis that the other budgetary areas are immune from consideration - we will have to require that aspect of the budget to take a very large adjustment. That is not feasible in the present circumstances. We want to make known our views on the best way forward based on the position we are in. We want to do so in the spirit of partnership and social engagement, which are part of how we do our business.

With regard to the question of recent industrial relations disputes – some private sector ones were mentioned – the Government does not condone the use of any improper or aggressive tactics by employers or trade unions in disputes. They fly in the face of the positive industrial relations tradition that the Government, Congress and IBEC have worked so hard to nurture over many years.

As the Deputy will know, we are committed to legislating in the context of the recently published Employment Agency Regulation Bill to prohibit the use of agency workers in cases of an official strike or lockout. Discussions have been formally initiated as to how to give effect to the Government's commitments to legislate to prevent victimisation in the workplace on the grounds of union membership and to provide that those mechanisms put in place under the Industrial Relations Act 2004 can operate as originally intended. The successful conclusion of that work will represent another important addition to the mix of voluntary and legislative frameworks for the protection of workers and the resolution of disputes. Should it prove necessary, we will have an opportunity to monitor and further refine procedural arrangements and legislative obligations given our shared determination to defend the flexibility, responsiveness, impartiality and effectiveness of the existing industrial relations system.

The Coca-Cola dispute was the subject of a Labour Court hearing on 18 September and the court issued a recommendation on 21 September. It is centred on a decision by the company to outsource those remaining elements of its distributional warehousing operations, affecting some 130 of its employees at a number of sites around the country. The company has declined to accept the court's recommendation in this case. Subsequent clarification issued by the court in recent days has not changed the company's position. A formal request has now been received from Congress for a meeting of the National Implementation Body in regard to the dispute. No date for a meeting has been set as yet but I hope the parties can find the basis for an agreed settlement given their record of practical problem solving and generally good industrial relations heretofore.

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