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

The birthdays are about the only thing that unite both of them at the moment but the Taoiseach should enjoy the day nonetheless.

I raise the issue of the aftermath of the Croke Park II deal and the vote by public sector workers to reject the deal presented to them by Government - a deal we said was unfair and had a disproportionate impact on front-line workers, in particular. I also criticised the strategy deployed to get this deal through which was a combination of dividing and conquering workers, a bit of bribery at the end and when all else failed, old-fashioned intimidation and threats, which ended in abject failure.

When we raised this issue last week, the Taoiseach said the Government was going to take time out to reflect on the vote. It seems the reflection did not really last more than 24 hours because the Estimates were rammed through committee and included the savings earmarked in the pay deal. In essence, the Estimates on which we will be asked to vote today contain the €300 million the Government expected to realise as a result of the deal the workers rejected last week.

While the Minister has asked the chair of the Labour Relations Commission-----

See this speech in context