Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

The problem is that the staff who would normally respond to this will be on strike. Staff in Departments right up to and including the grade of principal officer will be on strike. The difficulty is that today is Thursday and the strike is not due to take place until Tuesday but the Government has already thrown in the towel on this dispute and has accepted that it will take place. The Government thinks it is a big laugh. It clearly has no intention of sitting down with anyone and using the industrial relations machinery of the State to try to avert the strike.

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