Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for setting out the general position. I accept everything he said. No one could have any argument with it, but I would like to tease it out in further detail. Does the Minister have a view on whether talks on public sector pay should be carried out in isolation, separate from pay in the private sector, or are these talks confined to 280,000 public servants? Does he see it happening in a wider context?

It would be in everyone's interests to know, when we come to the Estimates next October, what the expenditure plans are for 2016, which would incorporate issues in respect of public pay. That tells me the talks need to be concluded over the summer months, after the first quarter, such that we are not coming along with Estimates next October in the full knowledge that they are not the real Estimates and that the public sector pay issue has not been dealt with. Is that the Minister's timetable?

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