Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Finance can present his proposals in the pay area in a stronger position tomorrow morning because we have come to an understanding that this is the sort of figure that is required for 2010. The problem was that the public service unions had to come with a very restricted mandate which was not about being in a position to negotiate a pay cut so they proposed a deduction for 2010 and the requirement for the unpaid leave to come thereafter. That was the reason the unpaid leave issue came up in the first place because the unions did not have the mandate with which to negotiate a permanent reduction in the public sector pay bill. I understood that difficulty.

I was prepared to continue to discuss it to see if there was a way forward which would meet with the requirements of the situation, would have found a deduction for 2010, one which was permanent thereafter, and would have dealt with the public reaction there was right across the board on the issue of unpaid leave. Unpaid leave was an issue the unions could not de-link from the deduction proposal. While I understood the position from their point of view, as of Friday afternoon, it left the Government in a position where it was unable to state with sufficient certainty that it had the savings beyond 2010.

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