Niall Ó Brolcháin (Green Party)

I agree with Senator Bradford who has made a valid point. I agree with other Senators also. People cannot be bullied into consensus. The Green Party is not proposing anyone should be bullied into adopting a consensus position, rather it is stating we all need to pull together because this is a very tough time. I want to see a debate on the economy take place.

I agree with Senator MacSharry, in particular, on the issue of public service wages which he called the elephant in the living room. At the peak of the boom we had the benchmarking process when the salaries of workers in the public sector were benchmarked against those in the private sector. People are telling me there should be benchmarking in reverse; however, it would not be benchmarking in reverse but a renewed benchmarking process.

On the national minimum wage, I have long held the view that there should be a maximum wage in the public service. Currently, workers in the public sector are earning over 50 times the national minimum wage which in the current economic climate is obscene.