Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It does not really matter at this juncture that the Minister's view remains that the Croke Park deal was fair, equitable, balanced and all of the vocabulary he has used. The workers did not act impulsively or rashly, they thought about this carefully and had done the maths. Whereas the Minister has said the core pay of 87% of workers was unaffected, the difficulty was that in respect of premium payments and allowances and so on people were being hit very hard, particularly at the front line. That is now water under the bridge.

The Minister entered into a process in which the unions were summoned, a deal was struck and it was agreed that the deal would then be put to ballot. The Minister's predecessors in Fianna Fáil never went through that routine: they simply legislated unilaterally. The Minister voluntarily sought to engage the unions and the workers in this process. Now the unions have come back and said "No thanks, we are not signing up to that". It is therefore absolutely critical that the Minister make clear today to the unions but more importantly to the workers that he accepts their verdict in respect of that deal. It is also important that he clarifies today that he will not in fact legislate for a 7% cut across the board. I would like him to do that. He is hiding behind reflection and consideration. By all means let him reflect and consider but he should make it clear to workers, particularly low-paid civil and public servants that he, a Labour Minister, will not legislate for a 7% cut across the board.

Can he tell us also how he got on with the troika? I understand he took a call from them. What did they say to him? What did he say to them? What now is the process? While the Minister reflects it is entirely reasonable that we ask him what is plan B. I would like to hear from him today that plan B does not entail legislating for a 7% cut across the board because that was the threat, or the promise that he made to workers in the course of this process.

See this speech in context