Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)

I have some questions for the Leader. I am a Seanad novice but I cannot believe what is going on here. Will the Leader tell the House this morning why the Government failed to freeze increments? "Increments" is a word I had to look up in the Oxford English Dictionary. It seems that it is a regular increase in salary, known in the private sector as a definite pay rise, every year. We are in the real world. There is no such thing in the private sector. Why did the Government not talk gently to the public service, which will cost us €300 million next year in increments? This step is not prohibited by the Croke Park agreement, something widely accepted by Ministers such as Deputy Pat Rabbitte. We are broke and insolvent. We simply cannot go on.

I could continue to highlight the difficulties imposed on young disabled people. It embarrasses me greatly. I emphasise to each Minister, Deputy and Senator that these decisions should be revised. I call on the Leader to go further and ask his Government colleagues to allow people in receipt of disability allowance to take up places in the labour activation programmes announced by the Government such as Springboard and JobBridge. They are currently prevented from doing so. This would bring them into line with those of a similar age in receipt of jobseeker's allowance.