Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)

We are borrowing more than €340 million per week just to keep the public services ticking over. A very high proportion of that is going on pay. It is clear that the Government, whoever is in government, must balance the books. We cannot continue to borrow at that level. It would not be wise or prudent to talk about reversing this situation. In fact, I would be absolutely opposed to that.

I agree with Deputy Timmins that it is a citizen's right to travel. It is a fundamental right and enshrined in national and international law, the Lisbon treaty, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the many measures we have enacted. That is why the action taken by the trade union in this case is singularly ill-advised. It will create bad feeling between the union and the general public, who are being grotesquely inconvenienced. There is something fundamentally wrong, in the 21st century, in people having to queue from 3 a.m. I heard a lady from Donegal speaking on a radio programme earlier today. She said she left her home at 3 a.m. to come to Dublin because a passport was urgently needed for a child who wants to travel to engage in some activity. That is wrong. Public service unions, notwithstanding industrial relations disputes, must be aware of this.

I am not entirely convinced that outsourcing public services is the best way to go. I have never been a big fan of outsourcing public services. However, the Deputy is right when he says outsourcing has worked very well in the Netherlands and is working in the United Kingdom. I am not sure of the precise position in Denmark. In so far as it is possible to run an efficient, effective and cost-effective service, we should do so within the public service. That is why I think the action of the trade union in this case is so ill-advised. In terms of the long-term relations between unions and the public it is an ill-advised action. I join with Deputy Timmins in calling on the Civil and Public Service Union to reconsider this, reverse its action, resume overtime and allow temporary workers to take up their positions.

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