Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I had not heard that Mr. Mervyn Taylor had passed away until I heard it from the Deputy now. I extend my condolences to his family and friends and to the Labour Party. He was a fine man. I met him only once or twice, but he was a democratic revolutionary. He served as the Minister for Equality and Law Reform in the Fine Gael and Labour Party Government headed by Mr. John Bruton. I will never forget the role he played in the divorce referendum. I was a teenager who was getting interested in politics at the time and I remember that day when the referendum was won by such a small margin. I remember his speech that evening after the count and him saying that it was done. That heralded the many changes and social reforms that happened in this country afterwards. The course of our history would have been very different but for 10,000 or 20,000 votes that might have gone the other way. That shows how much every vote matters in politics and democracy, and people such as Mr. Mervyn Taylor really matter.

To answer the Deputy's question, first, he should not believe everything he reads in the newspapers, particularly in the run up to the budget. I do not know how many absolutely contradictory stories I have seen in newspapers over the past couple of weeks regarding what is and is not in the budget and what is and is not being considered. I can say that we will engage with the unions and worker representatives on a recognition bonus for staff who went out of their way and did the extra mile during the pandemic. We want to do it, they deserve it and the public wants us to do it as well. We want a recognition payment or additional leave. I am not sure exactly how it will be done. It would be better if it fell into this financial year rather than next year, but that is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that it is done.

However, it also must be done fairly and in the right way. As the Deputy acknowledges and I acknowledged earlier this week, it is not just people in the health service who went the extra mile during the pandemic. Others did too, such as the gardaí and the Defence forces and many people not considered to be front-line workers but who administered the pandemic unemployment payment and the employment wage subsidy scheme and people in many other parts of the public service. We must have regard to that. Calculating how to do it in a fair way is complicated too. There were people who put in enormous numbers of extra hours, as the Deputy mentioned, but there were also people who did not. That might not have been through any fault of theirs. It was just that their services were reduced or shut down and they were not redeployed. Therefore, calculating it in a way that is fair is not straightforward. We do not want to create a division between some sectors and others in the public service and we do not want to create a division within sectors either, so we have to do it in a way that is fair. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, is exploring options. He is keen to bring proposals to the party leaders. It is something we are committed to doing, and we believe it is the right thing to do.

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