Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We should be dealing with the meat of the Bill.

I am sorry that the offer made by the Taoiseach this morning on the Order of Business to give an additional two and a half hours to debate this Bill was not accepted. I also regret the time we have lost in terms of adjournments so far.

I have given the justification for the Bill. It is necessary on the path to recovery. Deputies are right when they say it is not something we would wish to have to do. Bringing the public finances into balance has been an extraordinarily difficult journey for the Irish people generally but I agree with Deputy Fleming. We can see the finishing line now. We have 85% of the journey done and I hope that these measures can be unwound in the not too distant future so that we can engage in discussions with the trade union movement based on increases in pay and an improvement in working conditions rather than the opposite that was necessitated by the calamity this Government is trying to clean up.

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