Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Its members are currently being balloted and, unlike the Deputy, I do not want to involve myself in their ballot. I agree that everybody in the public service is affected, because everybody is asked to make some contribution, but those represented by the CPSU are minimally affected. Their core pay is not touched at all. They do not do overtime, by and large, and they have been asked to work additional hours. That is what is being asked of them in that instance. That is a reasonable request when we are asking everybody in the public service to work a couple of extra hours. They represent a category of workers that are minimally touched in that regard.

On the general point the Deputy makes that this is not the only option, of course this is not the only option. We are looking at significant reductions across every aspect of public expenditure, and the Deputy will be shouting at me for all of those; she has done so for years. We will be increasing taxes, and the Deputy will be opposing that also. She will be opposing the local property tax and everything else. It is certainly not the only option but it is part of the range of options that will bring this country back to a sustainable path of recovery.

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