Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I bring to the attention of colleagues that there is a general strike in Greece today, the second such strike within a month. It follows hundreds of other often violent strikes that have taken place in Greece in the face of the austerity measures in that country. In Irish media in the recent past there has been nothing short of vilification of public servants in this country and a failure to understand the significant sacrifices our public servants have made since the start of this crisis.

Will the Leader invite the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, to give us the good news of the achievements made under the Croke Park agreement? He could bring to light the fact that in this country we have not had unrest of the kind that has happened in Greece. We have a very responsible public sector in this country which has taken significant hits, and not just to overall salaries - the Exchequer pay bill has been reduced by 17.7%, with ¤3.1 billion saved by the end of 2012. In addition, our public servants are now facing considerable demands on their services. Without a shadow of doubt, they are delivering more with less. For example, 500,000 additional medical cards have been issued and even with increasing student numbers we have introduced a single grant scheme. We now have annual leave standardised and improved rostering in An Garda Síochána. There have been significant achievements under the Croke Park agreement. It is time to sit down and look seriously at those achievements without the type of nonsense that is spoken about our public servants.