Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

In his speech, the Minister gave the impression that his discussions with the trade unions have been confined to the issue of public service pay. That certainly seems very surprising. What does the Minister believe is necessary to address the employment crisis in this country? Fine Gael has put forward our proposals which include cutting the cost of employers' PRSI and setting up a holding company that could leverage private investment into our public utilities. These initiatives would make a difference. Does the Minister support those, or has he alternative initiatives for employment that would broaden the base of this budgetary debate?

When Mr. McCarthy started to file reports for the different Departments, a core issue related to moving staff from an area of low priority to an area of high priority. Is the Minister telling us that he has had no initiative on this until days before the budget? Is that the state of preparedness in the Department of Finance for restructuring the public service?

See this speech in context