David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the previous speakers. I was not going to involve myself in this debate as I was waiting until the next section but there is a point to be made about the extraordinary powers which have been given to the Minister and the Government in regard to these pay cuts and the other measures in the Bill. I am the workers' rights spokesperson for my party and part of my responsibility was to meet the various trade unions before and after the Croke Park II negotiations. The majority of, if not all, the trade union leaders we met, including those affiliated to the Minister's party, were very concerned about the very draconian measures which would be contained in this legislation. They labelled this as threatening legislation. They were also very concerned that their members were being coerced into voting for a deal which, essentially, was not in their best interests.

The Minister of State, who was here in the Minister's absence, said to wait to see the outcome of this vote. It is a possibility that the majority of workers might vote "Yes" but only on the basis that they are being coerced. They feel that if they do not vote for what is on offer, the Minister will impose what is in this Bill and then impose something even worse. That goes to the heart of this.

We had a discussion earlier on what might constitute low and middle incomes but if one is on a wage of €70,000 or €80,000, one's partner or spouse is out of work and one has three or four children, when one looks at the deductions and the net pay, it is not a massive wage. It is a comfortable wage but not a massive one. When one cuts such people's take home pay, it has an impact on the domestic economy and on their ability to be able to spend, which is one of the reasons we are not getting-----