Tom Shehan (Fine Gael)

I will start by quoting from a speech that the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, gave himself, as follows:

We can get the number of public servants out of the system to get a small public sector. We are doing that with the co-operation of the unions, but the second aspect is whether or not we get the buy-in on reforms on things like rostering and a change in work practices. What I am saying is that 2012 is the year to deliver that, and more. Unless we are ambitious and unless we are urgent about that, all the issues are back on the agenda again. We have not just said that it is now in the memorandum of understanding; it is the agreement that has been made with our international funders to get this economy floated again.

As regards our international funders, we will call them our liquidators or receivers because the country is in receivership.