Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Very clearly the Tánaiste has not taken the opportunity to give clarity on his and his party's position on the possibility of legislation to impose cuts in public sector pay. He has taken exactly the same position as the leader of Fine Gael. I am hugely disappointed because I fail to understand why he would continue to act as a crutch for a party whose policies he is assisting to implement and that are very bad for the interests of the ordinary people. I ask the Tánaiste again to make it clear that no Deputy of any party will be asked to vote in this House on a Bill that would further punish low to middle income public sector workers who have already taken major pay cuts and many of whom are struggling to pay excessive mortgages, to heat their homes, to provide for their children's education and for health care.

That is the reality we are in. I am talking about what the Tánaiste has taken as a fall-back position. Any time Sinn Féin asks him a question, he refers to fairytale economics. There has been a list of fairytales coming from him in recent times but the most clear one was Labour way's or Frankfurt's way.

See this speech in context