Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

When the Order of Business has concluded the House will begin to debate a Bill to cut the pay of State employees and to unilaterally change their conditions of employment. I want the Taoiseach to clarify two matters for me before we begin that debate.

First, will the Taoiseach clarify to whom exactly the Bill will apply? There was speculation over the weekend that it might apply to employees of semi-State companies but that appears to have been clarified. The Schedule to the Bill excludes the semi-State employees. However, there is a provision in the Bill which appears to extend the application of the pay cut not alone to direct employees of the State but to employees of any body which is wholly or partly funded by the State. This presumably means it would be extended to employees of voluntary hospitals, community development projects, family resource centres-----

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