Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As my colleague suggested in the Dáil, we do not have a huge difficulty with this and, by and large, we support it. The issue of sick pay in the public sector has to be dealt with and has been dealt with by all parties talking, agreeing and going before the Labour Court and the Labour Relations Commission. However, we must ask why this is being rushed through now, before the decision that is due on Friday. Why pass legislation now and have a special motion to present this legislation to the President at an early date when the Government could probably wait until early January to do this, when the full facts will be known and when we will know exactly what we are voting on? That is a key point of objection for us.

Otherwise, however, we are with the Minister on this aspect of the reform agenda. I believe it would have been better dealt with in separate legislation, but that is a matter for the drafters and the Minister. If the Minister is looking for PR, he would probably do better in January than with Christmas coming up. To be fair to Members, I believe this should be held off until after the decision that is due this week.