Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail)

As I said on Second Stage, this provision is unnecessary. It pre-empts the outcome of negotiations with public sector unions in regard to the Croke Park agreement. It is putting the gun to the head of the negotiators in that agreement. It is clearly signalling the Government's intentions by putting into primary legislation a possible outcome of those negotiations. Leaving this unnecessary section in the Bill, the Minister is forcing us to oppose the Bill in its entirety because we have a fundamental problem with this section. It is unrelated to the rest of the Bill, which is about new entrants to the public sector, and it will be the subject of negotiations on the Croke Park agreement. We should have those negotiations, if they are to be real, and see what comes out of them. The idea that there is some sort of convenience factor is not an argument that stands up to any scrutiny. It would be convenient to legislate for this if the Government decides to do it. It is not convenient to legislate for something the Government has not apparently decided on one way or the other, and it is a wrong precedent to establish in legislation.