David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With respect, Sinn Féin has given qualified support to the Lansdowne Road agreement. We said that if we were in government, we would implement it. It is not what we wanted and we would have done it differently, but it is the agreement now in place.

As such, I do not have a difficulty with the implementation of the agreement because at long last it gives something back after years of cuts in public sector numbers and pay. My question to the Minister is on the commitment in the programme for Government to establish a public sector pay commission. When is that going to happen and how is it going to happen? The Lansdowne Road agreement did not deal with the issues of pay equalisation. The Haddington Road agreement dealt with it in some respects in that it merged some of the payscales, but it did not deal with the issue in its entirety. I am asking the Minister a straight question. How is that issue going to be dealt with?

The Minister is extending the FEMPI legislation, which is emergency legislation. Does he still believe there is an emergency? The Government talks about a recovery at every opportunity it gets, but when it comes to public sector pay, we still have an emergency and emergency legislation must be kept in place.

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