Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

Unfortunately, they are allowing themselves to be dictated to at great cost to their members who suffer the consequences of the austerity being imposed by Government.

How can the Taoiseach say the Government is open to real dialogue with the trade union movement when, for example, members of the INMO and SIPTU were forced to take strike action against grotesque overcrowding and danger to patients at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick? These nurses did so not for an advancement in wages but in the interests of safe working practices. Does the Taoiseach see a contradiction between the fine platitudes he has just spoken and the reality that trade union members, who are trying to provide services, are facing on the ground as a result of Government policies?

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