Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy asked about the effects of the Haddington Road agreement. Without the Haddington Road agreement we could not have had a budget that would have been acceptable and passed by this House last year. I do not believe we would have exited the bailout and there would be a crisis in the country.

That is why before the end of 2012 I opened the books to the trade unions. As a good employer I outlined the circumstances and options. I asked all public sector trade unions to engage with me and they did. It was a very difficult and stressful process for all concerned because we are asking people, who had already made a contribution in our national recovery and who rightly did not feel any responsibility for the calamity that befell the Exchequer, to make a further contribution. However, without exception every trade union did. I do not believe that they rue anything because every citizen, especially every public servant, has a real stake in the country's recovery.

The Deputy spoke about unemployment. When the Government came to office three years ago there was a real fear, in some cases an expectation, that unemployment would exceed 500,000 and social disintegration would follow.

Unemployment has been falling for the past 18 months. The number of unemployed stands at 390,000 and IBEC expects the figure to decline to below 11% this year. I hope this expectation is realised. It was the actions of the government, all of them difficult and resisted by the Deputy, that led us to the better path of recovery, which will rebound to the benefit of every public servant and citizen.

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