Fiona O'Malley (Independent)

This is one of the most important decisions that members of unions will make about the future of their country. The agreement asks people to do the honourable thing. A colleague of mine in the Oireachtas told me yesterday that his daughter joined the public service many years ago on modest wages and was offered twice the salary elsewhere but declined to take it because she was interested in secure employment. She left aside the opportunity to double her income because she wanted to invest in security. She has since seen a pay decrease and a pension levy imposed. Everyone in the private sector thinks that public servants have it cushy but that really brought home to me how people in the public service are hurting and how rightly annoyed they are with the Government about this issue. I would put it to them, however, that the Government had no option and has no option.

Part of the reason there is a beginning of an economic recovery is because the Government took those harsh decisions and because people on modest incomes, especially those in the public service, made the sacrifices. The Minister used those words in his speech and I do not think the Government has forgotten the sacrifice the public sector has made. People from the banking community were living it up and they have ruined the country. It is no wonder public service workers are annoyed about this given that they are carrying the burden of these mistakes. That is a matter of governance, however, and the way to deal with it is at the ballot box. I applaud Fine Gael members for coming on board on this issue because they know it is important for the country.

The political leadership of the Labour Party must be called into question. They have clearly demonstrated that they are incapable of standing up to vested interests, and we need to remember that. It is easy to toe the populist line and it is impressive that the union leaders have told the truth, namely, that this is not a great deal but it is the best deal that can be negotiated. Senator Donohoe highlighted why it is important. Apart from the job security element, there is great importance attached to being present at the table and having influence on decisions that will be made.

The Minister stated that the implementation of this agreement is subject to no currently unforeseen budgetary deterioration. This caused concern and clarification was needed. The Minister indicated that it is not envisaged that there will be any such circumstances. If this clause has to be brought in, the best place to be at that moment is around the table making the decisions on how to solve the problem. It is better that the transformation agenda be communicated rather than imposed.

The public service gets kicked around quite a bit, as it were. We are not proud enough of our public service. I heard a story recently by a well-known journalist who was talking to a friend of a friend of mine who had heard from two other journalists who were commissioned by the public service broadcaster, RTE, to carry out an investigation into changes in the health service since the HSE was established. They carried out their research and they found out that the HSE was working well. They were public servants themselves and were proud of our public service. They discussed the making of the programme with the commissioners from RTE but the commissioners did not want to know about it. That is a shame. Public servants are entitled to be proud of good service and are entitled to know that changes made are reported. I would like to think that RTE would have the courage to commission those two journalists to make that programme and show that we have a public service that is working. People should know there is positive change within the public service.