Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is all well and good for the talks to be held behind closed doors, but what of the public interest? The taxpayer is paying. The Government is participating with its employer's hat on and the employees are represented by the trade unions, but no one in the talks represents the public interest and the taxpayer. For this reason, people need to be made aware.

According to the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, has been charged with dealing with these talks and sidebar discussions would be unhelpful. Will the Minister of State ask the Minister or the Taoiseach to tell that to the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, who made comments in the Sunday newspapers about nursing numbers, which comprise part of this issue, and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, who dealt with Croke Park II negotiations in another article? The Minister of State is not averse to commenting on these issues on occasion, although perhaps he has not done so recently. Through media statements, senior Ministers have flatly contradicted what the Minister of State referred to as the Government instruction on there being no sidebar comments.

Are there non-negotiable or red line issues? If €1 billion is not achieved in the talks, will the Government accept the deal? Is the figure of €1 billion an opening shot and will the Government settle for €450 million, €550 million or €650 million? Is the €1 billion a red line issue?

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