Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

4 o’clock

There was a review of NESC and NESDO in 2012. The review concluded that NESC continued to provide an important forum for discussing social, economic and environmental issues on a multilateral basis across a number of sectors. A number of other fora exist for engagement such as the National Economic Dialogue, the new Labour Employer Economic Forum, the Climate Change Advisory Council and the Social Inclusion Forum. NESC remains the only forum where national economic, social, environmental and institutional views can engage and interact. These other fora or opportunities are also important. In particular, I hope that the Labour Employer Economic Forum will prove to be somewhat beneficial for discussions of this nature.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has been very careful in his assessment of the range of services for public service for the time ahead in order to put in place a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. I regret that the ASTI executive was not in a position to recommend acceptance of the improved offer in respect of Lansdowne Road to teachers. The Garda dispute went before the Labour Court and that matter has been attended to. Clearly, there are issues about whether capacity to strike will be considered in terms of the legislation. These are important elements.

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