Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate, depending on the type of work, that there were two 8% cuts and a cut of 10% each in the lower and higher courts. For somebody working in both courts, that was a much higher cut. If somebody is working in the lower courts, the restoration we introduced and allowed for in yesterday's budget goes nearly halfway to responding to those cuts. As I said, this is the start of a process. I want to make sure that a fair system is in place that allows for fair restoration for those who provide a very valuable service to the State. As the Deputy knows, I cannot confirm a budget before the budget happens. I made it very clear to the associations that this was a priority for me in the budget and that I was engaging with the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform when I met them at various events they held and when speaking to individuals. I appreciate that they felt the need to continue with the protests. I wish it had not gotten to that point but I understand why it happened. The most important thing now is that the budget has passed, there is a 10% restoration and, most importantly, beyond that, I will engage with them to see what more we can do, looking at the overall structure.

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