Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would not expect the Deputy to acknowledge the argument I have made and he has not done so. The progress being made is being achieved by a change in our economic fortunes that the Deputy said would never happen. He claimed that the country would not get to the point where we would be able to make progress on these matters. We have made progress. The Deputy claimed we were recruiting people on strike pay. Due to the progress the Irish people have made and changes introduced in the recent budget, we will be able to hire more than 4,000 more front-line staff next year. Due to the change that has happened, we will be able not only to honour the wage commitments we have with public servants but we will also make progress - that is affordable for the country - in areas that are important to them. However, it is part of the Deputy's ideological agenda to never acknowledge progress on any matter, let alone that what I have outlined is happening through constructive and progressive engagement between reasonable leaders in the union movement and a Government that is doing its best to make progress with the resources available to it.

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