Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

What has to happen is that the Government must put pressure on Irish Cement to implement the Labour Court's recommendation. The workers have been through the process and the Labour Court has acknowledged that pay costs have reduced significantly. Shift allowances and overtime payments have been withdrawn. While rates of pay are still the same, what workers are taking home every week is much lower because of the various changes made to work practices. The workers are prepared to talk about pay cuts, which is what the Labour Court recommended. However, they must be paid what is due to them immediately. No Irish company should be allowed to get away with this. It is, therefore, incumbent on the Government to put serious pressure on the company to pay the money owed. The staff must then respond and deal constructively with the second part of the recommendation of the Labour Court which they have accepted and which refers to pay cuts.