Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We cannot put the stability of our collective wage agreement on the table. There will be immediate consequences for every other public servant in the State if there is a change to the agreement.

I appreciate there are many nurses in the Public Gallery this morning who would rather be in their places of work. The challenge that my ministerial colleague, Deputy Harris, and I will immediately face is that, if this wage agreement is destabilised, the same Gallery will be full with other public servants who will want to benefit from the same change. That is the challenge we face.

There are some in the House for whom that is their agenda. Deputies Boyd Barrett, Bríd Smith and Gino Kenny have acknowledged that they also seek the changes being sought for nurses for the rest of the public service.

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