Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

By no means are we involved in a race to the bottom. There has been an 11% increase in employment, which means that 200,000 people are back at work and 200,000 extra pay packages are going into family homes. Those pay packages are larger than they were in 2011. Not only have we more jobs, but also higher wages. That is because of the successful policy implemented by this and the pervious Government. It was a policy which Sinn Féin opposed at every opportunity. The policy has been successful and is rebuilding wage levels, jobs and enterprises. We are ploughing that money back into public services.

As I said, we have increased the subvention for public transport by 33%. We are putting money back into delivering public services. In terms of this dispute, the WRC is the professional body that needs to bring the two parties together to try to find a resolution to the differences. That is the approach that will resolve this dispute.

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