Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will do my best to address the real issues raised by Deputies. Deputy Fleming, in his opening comments, said he was supportive of the approach and of saving the money, but he was against this proposal. He willed the end but denied the means, in what is now becoming a feature of Fianna Fáil, in that it is for and against most things.

Deputy Fleming raised a number of issues with which I want to deal. In terms of the advice I have from the Office of the Attorney General, it was felt that because there were contractual issues for some public servants, it would be better to have formal legislation. This is simply an enabling Bill that will allow me to do no more than I intend to do, which is to put in legal force the binding recommendations of the Labour Court. There was a time when people of the left had respect for the Labour Court, but obviously that has now gone beyond the ken of some.

The Deputy mentioned there was an understanding that the Garda Síochána would be excluded. There was no such understanding. There was a timing issue in regard to this. I am not now going to bring it in on 1 January because I gave careful regard to the Deputy's reasonable proposal that we should do it by regulation. I did not have to do it by regulation and I could simply have issued a circular on foot of the legal authority I would have under the Act. However, I thought it would be better to do it by way of regulation and lay it before the House. I thought the Deputy had made a fair suggestion, which is why I accepted it. However, a consequence of that is that it will delay the implementation-----

See this speech in context