Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

No, it is not agreed. As I indicated previously, the Labour Party will not agree to the manner in which the Government is ordering business because of the undemocratic manner in which it railroaded through the House last week the Social Welfare and Pensions (No. 2) Bill, which will cut blind pensions, as well as the allowances to carers, widows and people with disabilities, and this week intends to railroad through the legislation which is to cut the pay the lowest paid people in the country. Apart from the unfairness of the Government's actions, it also is highly unwise from a legislative point of view. Yesterday, when I asked the Taoiseach about the people to whom the pay cut would apply, it was perfectly clear that he did not know what I was talking about. Moreover, at the weekend, depending on which Minister was asked, it was not known whether it would apply to the semi-State sector. One Minister had one answer while another Minister had a different answer.

Yesterday, it was evident that the Taoiseach had not even read the Bill, when the consequences of the manner in which public service was defined were pointed out to him. I note the Government has circulated an amendment in this regard since I raised the issue yesterday. While this amendment will in turn give rise to anomalies, Members can deal with that in the course of the debate on the Bill.

When I asked the Taoiseach yesterday about the public servants to whom this would apply, he did not know the answer and certainly gave the impression that it would apply, as the Bill had stated, to people who work in the voluntary sector. Overnight, the Government has circulated an amendment which would remove that provision. Does this mean the Government changed its mind overnight as to whom the legislation was to apply or that it simply got the legislation wrong during its drafting? If it got that part of the legislation wrong during its drafting, what other parts of the legislation have been got wrong? If the Government intends to guillotine the Bill through the Dáil, to what anomalies and problems will this legislation give rise in its implementation? On its implementation, I wish to ask one question. Today is 16 December and the proposed pay cuts are due to take effect on 1 January. Even were the Bill to be passed and enacted this week, would the pay systems to implement this change have operated by 1 January or will people be obliged to work overtime over Christmas to put it in place?

See this speech in context