Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

The Communications Regulation (Postal Services) Bill 2011 is extremely serious legislation which provides for liberalisation of the postal services and is the beginning of the neoliberal agenda, dictated from Europe and elsewhere, inevitably putting massive pressure for wide-scale privatisation and deregulation in areas related to the postal services, cherry-picking by private entities and, undoubtedly, a race to the bottom in terms of wages and conditions for workers in the postal area. It is out of order that the Taoiseach would confine this to at most two hours this afternoon. There should be no limit on this. All the issues need to be brought out. There was an extensive discussion and intervention in the debate on Second Stage and the Taoiseach should lift this guillotine.

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