Shane Ross (Independent)

I wish to respond briefly to what Senators Mansergh and O'Toole said about the pay deal. I joint with them in congratulating the Government, employers and trade unions on reaching agreement on a pay deal without consulting a single Member of this or the other House. It is quite an achievement and it should be acknowledged. If they want to bypass democracy, that is something about which we should be concerned and perhaps debate here. We should have a debate on pay deals here before they are agreed rather than after they are agreed. We should ask why concessions have been made on the tax band in the next budget already, a long time before that occurs, without consultation with this House and how on earth issues such as Aer Rianta got to the top of the agenda in a pay deal. Aer Rianta has absolutely nothing to do with a pay deal. This tells us who is writing the agenda for the other issues which concern this nation, rather than the pay deal. Under the guise of a pay deal other people, the oligarchs——