Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)

There has been a substantial reduction in public servant numbers from 2008 onwards. However, the Government intends to go beyond the numbers achieved up to end 2010 and to seek a further reduction of 25,000. Perhaps the Taoiseach will clarify if that remains the Government's intention and if that matter was discussed with ICTU and representatives of the public service unions.

On the temporary agency workers directive, there has been much discussion and talk about jobs and so on. The so-called jobs initiative was farcical. It literally took money from pensioners but was not allocated to job creation. The directive on agency workers is fundamental and could have a significant impact on thousands of jobs in our economy. My understanding is that it must be transposed by 6 December. Despite that date being only a few short weeks away, we have had no sight of any proposals in regard to that directive. It is simply slipping by with no one paying it any attention. There has been no substantive public debate on this directive which affects thousands of jobs, which calls into question whether people are paying lip-service to jobs.

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