Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Tánaiste read out three conditions attaching to the public pay talks and the union response, one of which was that the effect must be permanent. These are the same three conditions referred to by the Minister of State, Deputy Conor Lenihan, in a radio broadcast this morning. Members heard nothing of this from the Taoiseach yesterday morning. Given that the days' leave are, by definition, temporary and the Tánaiste now states that one of the requirements is permanency, is she stating there is no chance of the Government accepting the trade union offer?

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