Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I do not believe what the Minister is saying. He is making it up as he goes along. It makes no sense at all. I do not think he is deliberately deceiving, simply trying to make the best of it. However, if this applies to the people the Minister is talking about, with all his lovely phrases such as continuation of expectation — he is a credit to his father — why does it come into effect on 1 April 2004? We are talking about people, by the Minister's own example, who were employed last year but will not be employed on 1 April 2004. We have not seen them since. They will come back in six months. The Minister is telling us they are covered. There are two things wrong with this. First, they are not coming back to the same employment. Second, they were not public servants on or after 1 April 2004. It is all over the place.