Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I would have to be asked a specific question on this as I do not have in my head the number of nurses who have moved under the Croke Park agreement. It is the framework and I have stated from the beginning the Government will live up to its side of it, the main features of this being no future wage cuts or compulsory redundancies, but on the other side is flexibility, including the ability to move up to 40 km to fill gaps that are created. We will have to have great flexibility to implement the significant downsizing of the public service in the coming years and the other implications of the comprehensive review of expenditure when they are rolled out in the budget.

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