Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

Notwithstanding the comments of Senators O'Sullivan and O'Malley, I feel constrained on this side of the House. I am a member of the ASTI and a proud advocate of the public sector worker. It is important to put this debate in context and it is an equal imperative that we have the debate. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, Deputy Mansergh, who has a good record of attendance in the Seanad and has the interests of this House in mind. He participates in and listens to debates and I commend him on doing so.

Prior to the conclusion of the UK general election, it was stated in the Financial Times that: "The next government will have to cut public sector pay, freeze benefits, slash jobs, abolish a range of welfare entitlements and take the axe to programmes such as school building and road maintenance". That sounds familiar as that is what has been done in this country. Writing in The New York Times, Thomas Friedman coined a great phrase which I used yesterday on the Order of Business and I will use again today. He stated that it is: "Goodbye Tooth Fairy politics, hello Root Canal politics".