David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is about the section and the powers being given to the Minister. If a different Government brought forward a Bill such as this which gave the powers to a different Minister and a different Government, included provision to cut the pay of people on €65,000 and €100,000 and involved cuts to people's overtime rates and increments, the Minister would not support it. I do not remember the Minister supporting any such measures when he was in opposition or any Government budget either.

It is very frustrating for us at times when the Minister sits there and accuses my party of playing politics for opposing his policies. That is what the Opposition does and what he and his party did when in opposition. They voted against Fianna Fáil budgets and pay cuts in the public sector and cuts to the public sector generally. Now they are in government, they are doing exactly the same but are not prepared to accept any criticism or any charge of hypocrisy because they seem to think that if they do it, it is somewhat different. I will come back to some of those issues in the next section because it might be more appropriate.