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

I feel as if I have entered some kind of twilight zone in the Chamber. Those on the Government benches are lauding the Croke Park deal. Apparently, it was fair, progressive and equitable. The message seems to be coming from the Government that anyone with an ounce of wit would have understood that it was so. When workers came to vote, they had considered the matter very carefully. It is all very well for Deputies to say the pain would not have been so bad for a nurse or a garda.

Nurses, gardaí, teachers, front-line workers generally and clerical officers took out their calculators and did their sums and their conclusion was that the agreement was not equitable. They were not prepared to sign up for it. The Government can stick to its line of argument in respect of the deal, but to do so is academic. The Government should remember, as it congratulates itself for not acting unilaterally and commends itself, as it does in its amendment to the motion, on its early and open engagement with public servants, that it made the choice to summon the unions to the table and agree a process which included an open and fair ballot of public and civil servants. It defies logic that a Government that freely entered into the process and insisted that unions come to the table should set its face against the democratic verdict of the workers.

I do not believe, as some in the House may, that public and civil servants are lacking in the judgment department. They looked at the deal, including pay and flexible work arrangements, and said "No, thank you." It is not because they are irresponsible. Let us remember that over the last number of years, 30,000 public servants have been lost to the system. Bear in mind that we face a further loss of 10,000. Public and civil servants have heard the mantra of doing more with less repeated ad nauseamas they struggle in accident and emergency departments or continue to process medical cards and disability allowances. It is the trite response and position of Government. It should be borne in mind that this set of workers have had an average cut of 14% thus far. In the case of new entrants, cuts have been as high as 25%. It is not a sector of workers who have got off scot free - far from it. Nevertheless, the Minister lauds himself as being "wedded to walking the route of co-operation with public sector workers". It is very interesting language. I imagine the marriage will be very short-lived. The Minister is wedded to this form of co-operation, yet he stands time and again, including this evening in the House, to point the finger at public and civil servants and tell them they got it wrong. The Government has asked the Labour Relations Commission to intervene. According to the Taoiseach, the commission has been given a two-week timeline to decide whether there is scope for a negotiated settlement. The interesting thing is that the Government has clearly said to the LRC that it is still Croke Park II. I can only gather from the Taoiseach and the Minister that those are the clear instructions. While the workers have voted the deal down, the Government is trying a ruse to rehash it.

The Minister, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and his colleagues correctly castigated the Fianna Fáil administration for unilaterally savaging the pay of public and civil servants, but they have fallen short on that score in the wake of the rejection of Croke Park II. Some members of Government, particularly the Minister, were vociferous in threatening workers and their unions with a 7% cut across the board. In all of the reflection and discussion since the rejection of the Croke Park II, nobody has come out to say that threat has been withdrawn. It is disgraceful, dishonourable and mind-boggling from an Administration that is wedded to walking the road of co-operation with unions. It is not a very co-operative stance for the Government to take. Not only has the Government failed to withdraw the threat of unilateral action, it has moved through the Houses of the Oireachtas to have the Revised Estimates considered and rubber-stamped by select committees. The Revised Estimates have the Croke Park cuts hard-wired into them. The Minister made reference to the fact that the combined Opposition left the Select Sub-committee on Public Expenditure and Reform today as a mark of protest at the fact that the Government - which is, let us remember, wedded to walking the road of co-operation with the unions - has decided to include in the Revised Estimates the very measures workers rejected comprehensively.

I predict that the Government will try by some ruse to get Croke Park II through. While it is very critical of its predecessor, the Government has not only adopted its policies, it has also taken on a number of its bad habits. One of its chief bad habits is the inability to understand that when a democratic process returns a verdict of "No", "No" is the categoric answer. That is what the workers have said. I imagine the Government will try to find some tweak or manoeuvre to get this through. It will not succeed. As a last resort, the Government, particularly the Labour Party, will keep the option of legislating for cuts. Everyone must understand that the workers who have resisted this deal by democratic ballot will resist, quite correctly, any attempt by Government to impose a legislative cut unilaterally. To do so would be bad politics and bad form. To claim that one is anti-austerity as a member of a Government that has heaped austerity on low- and middle-income families in particular is nothing short of a bad joke. Everybody has been hurt. Workers in the private sector have taken a significant hit. Those families we refer to as the working poor know all about austerity but so too do low- and middle-income workers in the public and civil service. The CPSU, which represents clerical officers, rejected the deal by 87%. It is more than definitive; it is overwhelming. They are not wrong. They knew full well the implications of the deal for their pay packets and their working lives.

The Minister with responsibility for Croke Park, Deputy Brendan Howlin, will no doubt attempt to revive and resuscitate the agreement. I wish him nothing but the best of bad luck in his endeavours.

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