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

My sense is the union would settle for something higher than €1 million. I might be wrong, but my suggestion is that it would be in single digits. In the context of the massive overruns on a range of other projects, it would not have taken a whole lot to avert the strike. Three more days of strike action have been pencilled in for next week. There are, obviously, significant issues for patients and those who attend hospitals as inpatients and outpatients. In respect of the commitment in the programme for Government to better industrial relations within the health service, I put it to the Taoiseach that the strike could have been averted and that some creative work should be done to make sure we will not have strikes next week.

See this speech in context