Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I would like to begin by making a point about emergency legislation. After the 1998 Omagh bombing, which left 31 people dead and 220 people injured, the then Government introduced emergency amending legislation in the form of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998. Every year since then, the Dáil comes back to debate the provisions of that Act and to vote on whether to renew them. Two or three weeks ago, Deputies trooped up and down these aisles and turned left or right to vote for or against the renewal of the emergency legislation in question. The rules are different with this emergency legislation, however. The Government is able to renew the FEMPI legislation without a vote and with a mere token debate. A vote of this House is needed to renew emergency legislation which we are told is aimed at terrorism, but no vote of this House is needed to renew emergency legislation which we know is aimed at those who teach our kids and police our streets. The ways of the parliamentary system are truly amazing.

The aspect of the FEMPI issue I want to highlight is the lower rate of pay for new entrants. As Deputy Cullinane explained, this policy was introduced before the FEMPI legislation. It was for new entrants, as opposed to public servants who were already in employment, but it is very much linked to this debate. The hands of trade unions are tied in a way that prevents them from fighting this rule within the terms of the agreements underpinned by FEMPI. New entrant rates were introduced in 2011 and again in 2012 without consultation and without the agreement of young workers, workers generally or their unions. It has been calculated that as a result of these rates, a primary school teacher with a 40-year career will lose out to the tune of €227,000 and a secondary school teacher with a 40-year career will lose out to the tune of €300,000. Young people who want to buy homes, get mortgages, start families and have ordinary decent lives are severely hampered by these cuts. If the amount of money involved in these cuts was a small fraction of what it is, this policy would still be wrong. A worker who does the exact same work as one of his or her colleagues should be on the same pay scale as that colleague. If a woman earned less than a man in a job, we would say it was wrong. If a person with black skin earned less than a person with white skin in a job, we would say it was wrong. If a person from the LGBT community was discriminated against and paid less than other workers in a job, we would say again that it was wrong. Why, therefore, does the State say that such a policy is fine in the case of a young person who is a new entrant? This is wrong right down the line. It must be changed and changed immediately.

I glimpsed the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, when he was in the Chamber a few moments ago. It is a case of "now you see me and now you don't". He is not here now, but he was here on 29 May 2013 when the Dáil was debating the FEMPI legislation. This is what he said that evening:

First, I thank the Acting Chairman for the opportunity to speak on this new legislation, the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Bill 2013. The Bill is an attack on all public servants and one should not beat around the bush, it will cause further hardship to all public servants and their families.

He continued:

This Bill is disgraceful legislation and I will be voting against it. I will stand by our public servants, who do not deserve this injustice and this legislation is not in the public interest.

If I had been in the House in 2013, I would have voted against it too. If there was a vote on the FEMPI provisions today, I would vote against them again. At least I would be consistent in that respect.

What can we say about the bould Minister of State? He voted against it in 2013 when there was a financial emergency but lends his support to it in 2016 when the financial emergency has passed. Maybe the Minister of State will come back to the House to explain his position.

This Government is a right-wing, anti-worker Government, but it is clearly a weak Government too. It has been put very much on the back-foot by the anti-water charges campaign. It was bested by the anti-bin charge campaigners some weeks ago. It will be no match for organised workers who prepare a strong and vigorous campaign. We will give our full support to any group of workers or trade unions who take a stand on these matters.

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