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

Versatile, yes.

I note the comments of the Taoiseach on the timing of meetings of the committee. However, important events have taken place since the last meeting. I refer in particular to the result of the dispute between An Garda Síochána and the Government on pay. I probably should not use the word "result" because the feedback I am getting is that the Garda ballot was far from a done deal. There is a lot of discontent and opposition to the deal.

As it stands, the State is lined up to pay somewhere between €40 million and €50 million extra to gardaí on the basis of the recommended deal. Of course, it will not stop with the gardaí. The nurses are pursuing a claim. Low-paid civil servants, members of the CPSU, SIPTU, IMPACT and other public service unions will be pursuing claims now.

I note the Government propaganda machine cranked into action over recent days with an attempt at what I can only describe as a divide-and-conquer policy. The basic message that is being sent out by the Government propaganda machine is that if there is higher pay for gardaí, nurses and low-paid civil servants over and above that set out in the Lansdowne Road agreement, there will be less money for the health and education services and people on social welfare. That is a crude divide-and-conquer strategy. It is a crude attempt to set parents against teachers, people who use the health service against nurses, and people on social welfare against public servants. It is a disgraceful policy.

The Taoiseach is well aware that there is an alternative strategy that would mean higher and more decent pay and an end to two-tier pay among public servants, on the one hand, and the protection and improvement of public services, on the other. That can be done by bringing in extra finance. There are plenty of opportunities to bring in extra finance. I will not detail 20 of them as we have had the budget debate but I will pick one as a simple example. It is the idea of a millionaire's tax. If a modest 2% tax on the income and wealth of millionaires in this country were introduced, what would it produce? It would produce a fund of €2.9 million per annum.

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