Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Where is the Government going? The labour and trade union movement was built on solidarity and sacrifice. The ambitions of people like Connolly and Larkin were not just about defending wages and conditions but also about developing a vision of a better society which puts the interests of ordinary people first. The Tánaiste has completely failed and abandoned that tradition.

More than 100 years ago in Wexford, the constituency of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, future Labour Deputy, Dick Corish, led a strike of 700 workers at Pierce Foundry. It was a titanic strike for six months that won union recognition during which workers were bludgeoned on the streets. What would these self-sacrificing heroes think of the Minister? What would Dick Corish think of his county man, Deputy Howlin, imposing pay cuts of 7% at the behest of international financiers?

Since the Tánaiste does not believe in struggle and solidarity, is it not time he did the honourable thing and followed the path of the tradition that he is firmly in and, like Michael O'Leary before him, go off and join Fine Gael and bring the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform with him?

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