Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The Minister continued the Fianna Fáil-Green Party policy of transferring billions from the public sector and from the income of middle and low income public sector workers to pay off the European financial markets, bondholders and bankers. The measures that he says were facilitated by the financial emergency measures in the public interest were of course measures that dragooned further cuts in public sector workers' pay and conditions.

In May, the Minister's former leader and then Tánaiste, Deputy Gilmore, was talking up the idea that the next time the Government met the public sector unions they would be talking about increasing pay, not cutting it. Considering that 15% to 20% cuts, which is savage austerity, were implemented for many low paid workers among others, can the Minister give us a precise deadline or timescale in which these hard-pressed workers can look for a reversal of those cuts?

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