Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his advice because it is always very welcome.

As always, the Minister is welcome. Senator Thomas Byrne laid out our stall but there are some specific points on which I would like to ask a few questions and with which we can deal on Committee Stage. If we were all honest, which we should be, we would know there is a need to make savings in Government expenditure, and that covers the public service and Civil Service sector. Croke Park I was very successful. Senator John Gilroy was not a Member of the Oireachtas when it was negotiated but the laissez-faire attitude of the Labour Party to Croke Park I - effectively, it had no view whatsoever - is in stark contrast to its attitude now, when Labour Party Deputies and Senators refer to the success of Croke Park I. We can all agree it was a success at a very difficult time. The public sector has made significant sacrifices.

I take the Minister at his word when he says this is the last thing he will ask, which I genuinely hope it is. Some elements of it are unfair. I have a difficulty with the powers this Bill confers on the Minister to bring in sweeping changes to pay and conditions for public sector workers whose unions do not sign up to the Haddington Road agreement. That would be better done by way of statutory instrument, which could be debated in each of the sectors.

I am concerned that the freeze on recruitment remains and that it is a blanket freeze. I raised the deficit in the north east region in regard to adult mental health services during the week. Patients are being sent away and the HSE has stated that it is due to the public sector recruitment embargo. That is one example of it.

Should this be passed and should the unions agree to the Haddington Road proposals, the Government should use the opportunity to move quickly to restart recruitment to the Garda Síochána and to front-line services. The Minister has made changes in regard to graduate nurses and newly recruited teachers, which are welcome because the original proposals were unfair. However, the Government could go one step further. Law and order issues are to the fore. Our gardaí believe they are under-resourced, which they are. There is no question about that. The Government should reopen recruitment to the Garda Síochána.

If a union decides not to go with these proposals, what this Government intends to do in advance of a vote is to have the big stick ready with which to hit it in order to bring forward significant cuts. How would that work in a Department or local authority in which one union accepts the proposals while another does not? If two clerical officers are working in the same place, will the pay of one be reduced further than the other? How does the Minister see that working?