Action urged to avert national strike

SEANAD REPORT:"SENSATIONAL" REVELATIONS at yesterday's meeting of the Joint Committee on Economic and Regulatory Affairs and the dangers posed by the impending national strike made it imperative that we "cop on to ourselves" and take urgent action to ensure that there would be no further loss of international confidence in Ireland, Shane Ross (Ind) said.

Members on all sides of the House appealed for intervention by the Government or the trade union leadership to avert the stoppage. Some warned it would be tantamount to economic suicide.

Mr Ross said a former AIB auditor claimed he warned the regulator before last about overcharging in the banking system and that this had been buried by that regulator.

This showed that besides the current system of regulation, a past system had also not worked. This individual also spoke of producing information to the regulator about the most extraordinary shareholder dealings in offshore tax havens “which the regulator was very shocked about, apparently, when he spoke to him, but went away and did absolutely nothing about it,” added Mr Ross.

Seanad leader Donie Cassidy said he would urge the unions to call off the strike, in the national interest, and also in the interest of those who lost their jobs and those who were not sure if they would keep their jobs. He was particularly concerned about the message that would go around the world if our airports were closed and other actions were taken that would damage our fragile economy.

Mr Cassidy welcomed the Government’s announcement that they had invited the union leaders back to talks on economic recovery. He hoped this would give unions the confidence to state that the strike was being called off.

Eugene Regan (FG) said the trade union leadership was out of step with its members. “The unions should play their part in this and abandon unconditionally the proposed industrial action for next Monday. The Government should not be arm-twisted with some secret deal.”

Fine Gael’s latest recruit Ciarán Cannon sat beside party leader in the House Frances Fitzgerald who welcomed “the PD leader” to the party. She said Mr Cannon’s move represented a vote of confidence in an alternative government and in the alternative economic policy of Fine Gael.