Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have not picked up the telephone because we wrote to all stakeholders and trade unions. They came in and we had a very good meeting. We are awaiting their submissions. I do not want to go ahead with a stakeholders' forum without their consent to the agenda because we do not want them to say that they did not agree to it. We want a consensus on the agenda. We will get it. We will hold the forum, but not while an industrial dispute is going on. There would only be one item on the agenda in that case. We want to be serious about this forum and for the trade union submissions to come in.

I am not unwilling to pay these people what they deserve, what they earn and what can be afforded. I would love to see them being paid more, but we must accept that this company is in a perilous situation despite the huge subventions it is getting. It cannot pay more than it can afford.

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