Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I notice the Government is taking a very tough line on pay demands from workers. I also notice, very interestingly, that it is being joined by great moral upbraiders in this country such as Mr. John Moran, or "Mr. Austerity", in taking this tough line. The view is also shared by the Minister sitting next to the Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, who claims that if workers keep demanding these pay rises, recipients of social services will suffer. I utterly condemn this approach by the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, the Government as a whole and others outside the Government, including former government employees.

The argument has always been put that there is no money available outside the Lansdowne Road agreement until 2018 or the economy will go back to the dark days of austerity. The recent 4% claim by the private sector has thrown another bit of fuel on the furnace of pay demands. Let us remember that Luas drivers in the private sector attained a pay increase of 18% and recently contract cleaners got a pay increase of 10%. A modest 4% rise is being requested. I welcome that request and on this side of the House we welcome that workers have woken up and are beginning to say to the Government and the State that they have taken the pain and cuts for long enough and it is payback time. I also note that profits and wealth have been restored to 2008 levels.

I put it to the Taoiseach that the argument from the Government that workers must show restraint and there can be no pay equality or restoration above the Lansdowne Road pay deals is utter hypocrisy when we have just voted to give ourselves a €5,000 pay increase. We will give gardaí €3,000 in January so what the hell is wrong with giving nurses, teachers and others working at the coal face a decent restoration of pay and pay equality? A pay revolt is taking place and the Government cannot stomach it. We welcome it because it is not a case of private versus public or worker versus social welfare recipient. If the boat lifts for any section of workers, it lifts for everybody. We can cut across the nonsense that the fiscal space does not allow it as the Government has just managed to give €600 million in VAT concessions to the hospitality industry.

I could also mention that the Government said it did not want the €13 billion bitter fruit of Apple, that up to €4 billion is uncollected because of our effective corporation tax rate and that the Government gave loopholes to developers and landlords in last month's budget. Those are just a few examples. The Government does not seem able to restrain rent and insurance costs, but it wants to restrain workers' pay. I put it to the Taoiseach that there is a great deal of hypocrisy in the moral upbraiding of working class people that is going on here. It is time for a real look at the question of pay. Workers spend their money and put it back into the economy. They do not have offshore tax havens. The Taoiseach needs to address this question urgently.

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