Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I asked the Taoiseach about the details of the variation for the senior public servants. I appreciate that he will forward me the information on cost. I wish to ask him about the numbers affected. The two figures mentioned are wide apart. One was 160 while the other was 600. Which of these two figures is the closest to the mark? We do not currently have a social partnership arrangement or a national agreement on pay. Therefore, we do not have a national framework within which disputes over pay or any other industrial relations problems likely to arise in the public service can be dealt with. As I interpret the Taoiseach's comments, he wishes for a return to some kind of centralised deal. We all have our own views as to what the prospects for that might be.

While we wait for that wish to be fulfilled, what is the mechanism by which disputes in the public service will be addressed and resolved? We are currently in a position where there is industrial action in a number of areas of the public service and from what I gather, it is growing. There is notice being served all the time of various kinds of work-to-rule arrangements and so on.

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