John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I raise the issue Senator Cummins raised. Workers who have worked at Waterford Crystal for many years and paid into a pension scheme over a long number of years find themselves with no pension provision. Last week I asked the Leader that we examine the whole area of defined benefit pensions across the country because there will be other companies in a similar position to Waterford Crystal. The Leader said he would consider having a debate this week. I ask him to have that discussion at the earliest possible opportunity. There is more than ample opportunity to have it this week and it would be fitting to do so.

I share the concerns of Senator Cummins. It is shocking that the workers in Waterford Crystal have been forced into the situation they are now in. They are trying to work voluntarily to keep the kilns lit, so to speak, in the premises so that the factory can be sustained into the future. They have taken some action in this regard. Today they were in the Dublin offices of Deloitte & Touche, which is the receiver for the company, seeking some clarification on the current position.

It strikes me that a number of leading business people believe there is a future for Waterford Crystal. They are prepared to take on that task and we should be trying to encourage that so we can maintain as many jobs as possible in that business.

I share the sentiments of Senator Fitzgerald and others and, in particular, Senator Ross, on social partnership. I am a bit shocked myself at the sense of disbelief from the Government benches about the collapse of the social partnership talks last night. There has always been a strong possibility that agreement would not be reached and that the Government would need to have some sort of fallback position. I presume we are to be told that position at 4 p.m. today. It is striking that we have been left in a vacuum over recent months. That is the point the Opposition is trying to get across. I welcome the sense from most speakers on the Government side in the House today that they are at least listening to what the Opposition has to say.

Senator Ross was treading on thin ice with some of his comments, as he could have been accused by some Fianna Fáil backbenchers of treason or talking the country down. I say this based on the remarks some of them made last week when my party leader made a number of pronouncements in Brussels, which were sadly true. The financial community across the world is looking at Ireland——