We have had a weekend of determined industrial action by bus workers and midnight talks to avert disputes across the public sector. I find it interesting how people on six-figure salaries - including Government Ministers, semi-State CEOs and a couple of trade union leaders - can try to convince workers that the only show in town is one where they have to offer up their hard-won pay and conditions to make savings. Of course, they are ably assisted by a press that is owned by billionaire tax exiles. I am reminded of one of the Taoiseach's predecessors, Charlie Haughey, who in the 1980s told the rest of us that we had to tighten our belts while he unwrapped yet another Charvet shirt.

The recent disputes show a lot about the type of society that is being fostered under the Taoiseach's stewardship. Those policies are being pursued, not because there is no alternative or the Taoiseach has no choice, but because ideologically the Government supports stripping public services and driving down wages and conditions.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Varadkar, slashes the subsidy to Bus Éireann and is then shocked that the company is somehow losing money. His personnel on the ground - although not really on the ground because some of them are based in Dubai - or his management team come up with the myth that the company's workers are to blame. According to management, these people have an absolute neck to think that they should be paid more for driving through the night, working weekends and doing 12-hour shifts. Let us be clear, bus workers earn a modest wage. They are not the worst paid workers in this country but their money is hard earned. Their wages have already been cut in recent weeks. The expectation that they would endure a cut of another €3,000 to €4,000 is absolutely scandalous.

The issue is what type of society we want to live in. Public services cost money and their value cannot be determined by break-even economics. The social benefit has to be factored in. Our transport costs are the least subsidised in Europe. Even the United States subsidises private transport more than we fund public transport.

Rather than undermining public transport, does the Taoiseach not think it would be far more sustainable, both economically and socially, to increase the subsidy to Bus Éireann and CIE, thus enabling them to slash prices and get more people out of their cars and onto buses? Is it not an obscenity that the Government continues to pay €50 million of taxpayers' money every year - that is ten times the bus cuts - to fund the West Link toll bridge? That bridge has been paid for many times over as a result of the cosy deal done by the Fianna Fáil cohort.

Does the Taoiseach not think it crazy that the taxpayer pays millions every year to public private partnerships because roads are not being used, yet he cannot use taxpayers' money to fund viable rural bus companies? When will the Taoiseach stop subsidising the private sector while at the same time driving down public sector wages and conditions?

After that long dissertation, Deputy Clare Daly understands well what we have to do: get our public finances in order, restore our country to prosperity and get our people back to work. That is why I am glad the unions have agreed to suspend the strike and go back to talks with Bus Éireann at the Labour Relations Commission. I hope that over the next 48 hours or so, the discussions will end conclusively and successfully in that the savings that have to made can be agreed, drivers will continue giving the excellent service they have always given, and passengers will have access to Bus Éireann for their journeys around the country.

The evidence of €500,000 lost in a two-day strike speaks for itself. I do not share the Deputy's view that the subsidy has been slashed by the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. In fact, last year, the subsidy to Bus Éireann was the highest ever.

That is simply not true. The reality is that Bus Éireann's subsidy stood at €49 million in 2009 and has been reduced by €15 million since then. Since 2009, the wages bill has been slashed by another €15 million.

That is a different company - Dublin Bus.

That is €15 million out of the pockets of hard-pressed bus workers who already have had to endure cuts. The Taoiseach has chosen to avoid the fact that choices are always available. Rather than taking money from the pockets of modestly paid workers, why could the Taoiseach not have chosen instead to tax the new millionaires who have gained extra wealth under his stewardship? For example, could he not bring in a 5% hike on the new earners of more than €300,000 per annum, whose numbers have sky-rocketed under the Taoiseach's stewardship, in order to meet the deficit he wants public sector workers to shoulder?

At the behest of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deloitte - an independent group - undertook a study on Bus Éireann and found that it was an incredibly efficient and well-run company off the backs of a good and modestly paid workforce.

The idea that the Minister expects them to make savings of €5 million while he continues to subvent the private sector is reprehensible and is a bit of a fairy tale.

I get a bit fed up with this regular comment from Deputy Daly as if she is the only one in here who values the work the public service does. We value the work of our public servants. I value it because I know them, the very many people who work long hours and late nights to see that services are provided, whether front-line or not. And yes, no more than any other sector of Irish society, there are people who do not perform to the optimum level. There are sectors in the public sector where that applies. We value the work of the public service, and Deputy Daly does not have sole ownership of respect for the public service.

I hope the discussions that are taking place with chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission and trades unions will proceed successfully, that we can have an opportunity to have a negotiated, overarching agreement regarding Croke Park II. Hopefully the discussions the unions and Bus Éireann have entered into, thankfully both with a positive attitude, can bring this matter to a conclusion and Bus Éireann drivers and workers can continue to provide an excellent, first class service for the many thousands of passengers who are glad to use their services on a daily basis for many years.