asked the Taoiseach if, after his talks with the ICTU, he proposes to take any action to encourage the emergence of ordinary wage bargaining in 1979.

5.

asked the Taoiseach if he will be holding further discussions with the ICTU and employer organisations on the general economic situation.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 and 5 together.

The current national agreement has more than four months to run for some groups and more than seven months for many others. It is, therefore, premature to talk of action related to negotiations on its expiry.

As indicated in the agreed statements issued following these meetings, arrangements will be made for further meetings as the situation requires.

My question should be read "ordinary wage negotiations next year". My handwriting was at fault. Now that the unions have decided not to enter into preliminary talks on another national wage agreement, will the Minister agree that it is incumbent on the Government to clarify their budgetary intentions as soon as possible in respect of children's allowances, food subsidies and the general level of taxation? By doing so they would be preparing the ground for early talks. Does the Minister agree that a duty devolves on the Government, if they are interested in preparing the ground for orderly wage negotiations next year——

It would be a completely new development if the Government were to announce any budgetary proposals before the budget.

Will the Minister accept that the prospect of talks being opened on orderly wage negotiations next year has been diminished if the Government are to proceed with plans mentioned by the Minister for Economic Planning and Development? If the Government are anxious to prepare conditions in which orderly wage negotiations may take place, the best thing they could do would be publicly to amend policies declared that would influence the cost of living upwards.

No policies have been declared of the nature outlined by the Deputy.

What about children's allowances?

Can the Minister say if at this stage the Government will be prepared to abandon some of the options identified quite clearly in the Green Paper and elsewhere in order to provide the kind of groundwork Deputy O'Leary has been referring to?

The Government have no intention of responding to the threats of the Labour Party.

Is it in order for the Minister to interpret a simple question as a threat, or is he so insecure that he regards such an innocuous question as a threat?

The Deputy talks about ominous——

I never used the word.

The Deputy may not have used it but he meant to.

I can tell the Minister that the Labour Party will definitely respond to threats by Fianna Fáil.

The Government are in a mess and we are trying to get them out of it. We have enough confrontation in the country without the Minister adding to it.

I hope the Labour Party will be able to get more than ten into the House when they are responding.

Questions Nos. 6, 7 and 8 postponed.