Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-07
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Ken O'Flynn (II), Cork North-Central

I thank the Minister for his reply. I have had relative success in business throughout my years. I can confidently say that if I ran my business the way the Government is approaching these negotiations, I would probably be out of business today. That is the reality. As I said, we are now seven days after the expired deal. We should have been at negotiation tables about six months ago to ensure a smooth transition, particularly when this country - with great gusto as the Government has said - is supporting the Presidency of the EU, and to ensure there would not be strikes or anything.
We are now putting the horse before the cart yet again. The Minister is playing catch-up continuously. This is affecting nurses, doctors and staff in hospitals. It is affecting gardaí, front-line workers and those lower paid people on whom we depend in local authorities. As one of the Members already said, these are the people who are not coming back. They are leaving in their droves because there is no future or stability. Without a plan in place for them, where they know what the plan is and the funds available to them, they cannot plan for the future. They are not going to come back.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-07