Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister made points about the North. I am not a member of Sinn Féin but what is happening in Ireland and throughout Europe is a consequence of the neoliberal agenda governments across Europe have recently followed.

We are going to see a winter of discontent next year on the part of workers. A group of workers has been given an award through the Labour Court, while other workers are told to sit back and wait when they cannot afford to wait and are finding it difficult to survive. The Minister challenged me about the Lansdowne Road agreement. There are plenty of things one can oppose. I would have voted against the Lansdowne Road agreement if I was in the public service. If I was a worker now, I would not accept that a group of workers gets an award better than that offered to me, so I would want to get out of the agreement. Two unions did not enter the Lansdowne Road agreement. We could have a debate about ideology or where we come from in respect of international global capitalism and the protection of that force by certain Governments. At the end of the day, workers are suffering from it.

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