Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One can say that about any additional expenditure or additional tax relief. Ultimately, the taxpayer has to pay for it in some shape or form. The Garda pay dispute some time ago was resolved by the Labour Court. The Government accepted that Labour Court recommendation ultimately and it did not upset or undermine the public service stability agreement and the public service pay norms. There are creative ways and mechanisms through which these issues can be dealt with because it is not today or yesterday that they were raised. I can go back to the time of the former Minister, Senator James Reilly, in the Department of Health, when there was an ongoing row with the INMO and he denied that salary was an issue then or that they were being paid worse than others in other English-speaking countries. It is not today or yesterday that this claim has been on the table. What has been lacking is a proactive, creative way of resolving it, unlike the approach adopted in the Garda pay dispute, which the Government contributed to in the end because I do not believe the Labour Court came up with its recommendation out of thin air. I believe the Labour Court got a nod on high that it could make such a recommendation.

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