Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I respect the work every public servant does and this is not an easy position for a great number of people, but I trust those negotiating these talks to sit around the table, at which these wage discussions are taking place, and to work out a fair and balanced situation across the board so that we will not have a situation where anyone feels he or she has been deliberately discriminated against or targeted in these discussions.

Deputy Martin knows one cannot judge the outcome of any of these discussions by taking bits and pieces of comments, allegations and speculation and by throwing figures around here and there. These are intensive and serious wage negotiations and they are being conducted by professional people between the unions and management. I hope everybody who has an issue, a concern or an anxiety will sit down at that table and negotiate, in a professional way, a fair and balanced outcome for everybody, so that we can get on with dealing with the problem in our country - a €12 billion deficit this year, a €9 billion deficit in 2014 and a €5 billion deficit in 2015. That is the unholy mess we must clean up. We are set on this course and that is what we will do. I would urge everybody involved in these talks to sit down professionally and work things out in a way that we can have a future for all those coming behind us.

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