I beg the Ceann Comhairle's indulgence to wish the Taoiseach a happy birthday. Is it the Tánaiste's birthday as well?

Yes.

The birthdays are about the only thing that unite both of them at the moment but the Taoiseach should enjoy the day nonetheless.

I raise the issue of the aftermath of the Croke Park II deal and the vote by public sector workers to reject the deal presented to them by Government - a deal we said was unfair and had a disproportionate impact on front-line workers, in particular. I also criticised the strategy deployed to get this deal through which was a combination of dividing and conquering workers, a bit of bribery at the end and when all else failed, old-fashioned intimidation and threats, which ended in abject failure.

When we raised this issue last week, the Taoiseach said the Government was going to take time out to reflect on the vote. It seems the reflection did not really last more than 24 hours because the Estimates were rammed through committee and included the savings earmarked in the pay deal. In essence, the Estimates on which we will be asked to vote today contain the €300 million the Government expected to realise as a result of the deal the workers rejected last week.

While the Minister has asked the chair of the Labour Relations Commission-----

The Government.

The Government. Sorry, I thought the Minister, Deputy Howlin, was leading the charge on this. In any event, the Government asked the chair of the LRC to reconsider while at the same time throwing it out there yesterday - of course, it may take it back again - that there could be compulsory job losses in the public sector. The Taoiseach said there really is only a fortnight and people must come back to the table but meanwhile the Estimates are being rammed through. We do not know of what the €300 million will be made up.

Sources close to the Government have said the legislation the Minister, Deputy Howlin, promised in regard to the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act, the Pensions Act and the Payment of Wages Act will be brought in. That is what the Taoiseach seems to be confirming. In essence, there seems to be a pretence that we really want to enter into renegotiation but in reality that will not happen. Will the Taoiseach confirm to the House that it is the Government's real position to force the pay deal through and bring in the legislation, the Minister, Deputy Howlin, promised some weeks ago in this context of this deal and that the legislation is actually ready to go?

I thank Deputy Martin for his good wishes. I will pass on the same to the Tánaiste.

He will be delighted.

The House might indulge me for a moment as this is job shadow day and young people are working with various public representatives through the Irish Association of Supported Employment. Two young men, Michael Dunleavey and John Hynes, are shadowing me today and they are in the Visitors Gallery. I just wanted to recognise that.

In respect of Deputy Martin's question, the position is that the unions held their ballot and made their decision. The Government reflected on this and has asked the LRC to engage with the 21 unions to see if there is a basis for negotiations because, as I said before and as has been very clearly confirmed by the Minister, the bottom line is that the requirement for €300 million must come from the payroll package this year, rising to €1 billion by 2015. The LRC will engage genuinely with the unions to see if there is a basis for that. That is the first step Government instructed following the announcement of the vote by the unions.

It is not true for Deputy Martin to say the Estimates are being rammed through. For whatever reason, his people walked out of the committee dealing with the Estimates yesterday. I remind the Deputy that in his pre-budget submission, the cuts he was looking for this year were of the order of €350 million, which was more extensive and deeper than what was negotiated.

It is very necessary for the Government to produce its Estimates without gaps or brackets around numbers because it is important that it be able to continue to do its work and carry out its duties. The Estimates before the Dáil do not comprise the entire range of Estimates; they have been apportioned across Departments. As the discussions take place on these Estimates, there may be little adjustments here and there.

Some €300 million.

The Estimate before the House is the Estimate for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The 130 people who work in shared services need to be paid this week. That is why it is important that the Estimate for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform go through today in order that the people concerned can continue their work and be paid for it. In that sense, a very genuine process is being followed. We have to achieve the savings that have been set out.

The Deputy referred to the threat of compulsory redundancies. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said that if this were a private company, there would be redundancies in train. With regard to the public sector and the Labour Relations Commission's negotiations on Croke Park II, protection was an inherent part. However, if there is no agreement, there is no protection; that is the point. Obviously, the trade unions will now engage with the Labour Relations Commission to determine whether there is a basis for negotiations on the savings of €300 million required to be made this year.

That is why workers really get fed up with the mixed messages that flow from the Government. What the Taoiseach has said is really a threat to workers. He is basically saying that if there is no agreement, there will be no protection. He did this about two months ago also. Again, it was not followed through. The Government is reaching out on the one hand, while saying that if one does not play ball, there will be no protection in terms of employment.

Nurses, health care workers and public servants felt the deal was fundamentally unclear. There was a divide and conquer approach at the time and it is continuing. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform said yesterday that he would work with the trade unions that would work with him. That old tradition of number counting is what got the deal into trouble from day one. The Government was looking at the electoral college set-up and counting the numbers and it got it wrong. It tried to isolate certain workers, particularly in the health care sector. We know that gardaí were isolated much earlier. The Government needs to go back to the drawing board in terms of how the deal was constructed and the composition of the pay cuts for specific workers.

The Taoiseach has confirmed that there will be only little adjustments. Government sources said yesterday there could only be a tweaking of the deal. In reality, the laws that must be enacted to give effect to the pay deal are ready. While informed industrial relations correspondents are saying the Government has bought a little time for itself, it seems it has bought time to try to get the numbers right here by getting Labour Party backbenchers to vote for the necessary legislation to get the deal through. That is what is on the agenda for the next fortnight. Deep down, the Government knows there is no room for the kind of substantive renegotiation of the deal that those representing the workers are saying is required. The Government's position is that only a tweaking of the deal can occur. The real agenda is to get everybody on board to vote through the pay deal in the context of legislation that is ready to go and which the Minister has drawn up.

That is not a question. Let me remind the Deputy of the truth. The Government must deal with the truth and the facts. The trade unions rejected the proposals from the Labour Relations Commission which were negotiated in full and open consultation in a very comprehensive way. This is unlike the circumstances in which legislation was simply rammed through without consultation or engagement with the public sector in the first place.

What about Croke Park I?

That is after the Deputy's party made cuts.

That was repeated on two separate occasions. It is also true that in the negotiations between the Labour Relations Commission and the trade unions on Croke Park II, employment was protected. It is absolutely true to say that if there is no agreement, there will be no such inherent protection. In the beginning all of the trade unions were invited to participate and engage. They can now all participate and engage again. It is fundamental to getting the public finances right that the saving of €300 million be achieved this year and, as has been pointed out, that up to €1 billion be saved by 2015.

The Deputy's assertion that the Estimates are being rammed through is also untrue. The Estimate is for the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

There was no debate last week on the Estimates.

The Deputy's people walked out of a meeting yesterday and would not engage on it. The reason the Estimate must go through this morning is to ensure workers can be paid at the end of the week. They are engaged in public service and public duties.

A process is in train whereby the Labour Relations Commission can engage with the trade unions, all of which can come back in and give their views to the commission. The savings must be achieved. As I stated, the door of the Government is always open to the ideas and expressions of the trade unions. There is an important process in place, as the Government has recognised. It has asked the commission to engage with the trade unions to determine how best this might be achieved. It has to be achieved.