Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny TD has welcomed the resumption of the public sector union talks at the Labour Relations Commission and called for a number of gestures on both sides to restore good faith.

Deputy Kenny called on the Government to give a commitment not to further cut core public sector pay and for the trade unions to call off existing industrial action and service disruptions.

“The resumption of the talks in the LRC are very much to be welcomed. To show good faith, the Government should now give an explicit assurance that there will be no additional cuts in core public sector pay in the next Budget.

“In return, the trade unions should call off existing industrial action and service disruptions, such as the delays in issuing passports that are preventing hundreds of children for going on school trips over the Easter break.

“To be credible, the transformation agenda must now go well beyond tinkering with working hours, shift arrangements and job mobility. It must be about the complete undoing of the centralisation of power that has taken place under Fianna Fáil's model of social partnership over the last decade that has bred waste, ignored the demands of public service users and corrupted the capability and accountability of our public servants.”