Alex White (Labour)

I remind the House that when the Croke Park agreement was first published, my party leader welcomed and commended those involved in putting it together and said it would be a matter for the members of each of the unions to consider the proposals and vote on them in accordance with their respective democratic procedures. That was exactly how the Minister of State put it in his speech today, where he said he urged public servants to decide on the agreement on its merits, precisely the view the Labour Party took.

In relation to public service workers and public sector staff, as a politician and citizen I believe most of them I know really believe in the work they are doing and want to have a stake in the future of the organisations they work for. Another advantage of the Croke Park agreement is that it invites workers to be part of the process for change. No change is ever really truly successful if it is imposed. Everybody understands that at times there is need for a "carrot and stick" approach, but there cannot be a dynamic of change across a whole sophisticated public service if this is imposed, in some way, or done as a threat. One must involve and have onside the people who are going to do the work, perhaps in a different and more productive way, or whatever.

People have a stake in the Government agency, Department or public sector organisation they work in, as well as in their country. I have to agree, however, with the main burden of Senator O'Toole's remarks, as regards my disappointment with today. As I heard the Minister of State's speech and looked through it very carefully, as I do again, I see it is replete with references to what is now going to happen or what will happen. The word "shortly" appears half a dozen times. I believe the Minister of State, or at least the Government, owes the House an explanation as to why it has taken six months for anything to do with this agreement to happen at all. I acknowledge that the implementation body was set up, but the individual action plans appear to only have been activated within the last couple of weeks. In fact, the Minister of State expressed his disappointment that various Departments had missed their deadlines and so on, but had now met them. It is a very good thing they have so the process may actually start.

However, why has it taken six months? If it has taken six months to set up the basic mechanisms for this, are we not entitled to be concerned as regards how much longer it will take for the substance of the agreement to be addressed?