Page 35 of the programme for Government contains a number of commitments in respect of public sector pay. Yesterday, the Minister for Finance made a much anticipated announcement in respect of pay restoration. As the Taoiseach knows, more than 60,000 public sector workers, including 16,000 teachers and nearly 10,000 nurses who entered service after 2011, currently earn less than colleagues for performing the same work. We have consistently called on the Government to find a fair and sensible unwinding of pay cuts and to deliver pay restoration and equality. The proposals announced yesterday fall very short of the mark and do not provide full pay equality until as late as 2026, which is almost a decade away.

This could be done sooner. We have proposed the delivery of full pay equality by the beginning of 2020. This is affordable and would see all post-2011 entrants receiving an initial pay increase at the beginning of 2019, with full pay equality by 2020. Does the Taoiseach agree that the Minister should go back to the drawing board in this regard?

The proposal published yesterday was negotiated between the Department of Finance and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU. It has been welcomed by some unions such as SIPTU and Fórsa, while others have given a more muted response and some have given a negative response. It is now up to people to make a decision for themselves and ballot as to whether it should be accepted.

To bring about equal pay scales in one go would cost €200 million and we just do not have that money for next year if we are to invest in housing, health and all the areas that Members are calling on us to invest in. We have agreed with ICTU a staged restoration of basic salaries over a number of years in a way that is affordable and does not mean we would have to find the money by reducing services, cutting back on new schools or anything like that. It is important to point out that of the 60,000 new and recent entrants to the public service who will benefit, 58% or 35,750 will benefit from year one, which is next March. Of the total, 78% will benefit by year two, with many receiving substantial uplifts in pay. Ultimately, if the proposals are agreed, we will be able to accommodate them in the budget. Something that would cost much more, such as what the Deputy proposes, could not be accommodated without having an impact on other spending areas, particularly health and housing. That would not be right.