Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not agreed. We raised this last week and objected to the procedure and process being engaged in by Government whereby it referred all these Estimates to committee last week generally without any debate at plenary session. We requested a debate last week because it was in the aftermath of the rejection of the Croke Park II pay deal by public sector workers. Public servants need to know that in essence, as described last week in terms of these Estimates, in each Estimate for each Department, including in respect of one Department today, there is a proportion of the Estimate which relates to the pay deal that was rejected. In essence, what is being attempted to be voted through in respect of one Department contains Croke Park II provisions within that Estimate.

That is the reality, irrespective of whatever other pretence is going on in terms of a genuine renegotiation. We are not going to rubber stamp or be part of a charade which, on the one hand, is saying there is a negotiation process on the way but in reality the ground is being prepared for something different, in other words, to have the deal put through, through Estimates and in the form of the legislation which the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, promised in terms of the Financial Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 and the pensions Act. We are opposing the manner in which this is being taken and the approach of the Government in the past week has been to suppress debate and get the deal through one way or another.

See this speech in context