Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail)

There are issues such as inflation and the public finances. One such issue, on which we ourselves can give a lead, as I stated in the House three or four weeks ago, is pay restraint in the public service. It is my belief that we should consider an 18-month pay pause, right across the economy generally but definitely in the public service which has benefited enormously in the past decade when times were good. It is important now that we play our part and that we do not just leave it to those in the private sector to take the pain of what is happening in the economy. I support the call for a good constructive debate on the economy in the course of the next few weeks, something to which the people are entitled.