Who is protecting the taxpayer from unions?

It is utterly disgraceful that the Government so happily agreed to yet another sweet deal with the public-sector trade unions, in order to take advantage of the hard-pressed Irish taxpayer.

I refer, of course, to the agreement to transfer thousands of surplus staff from county councils to the latest giant quango, Irish Water. Why are our political leaders determined to repeat the same mistakes which were made at the time of the establishment of the HSE, namely, reducing the number of boards but not reducing the overall headcount? As Professor John Fitzgerald of the ESRI pointed out, this €2 billion overspend on staff for Irish Water will add to the cost of water for households and businesses.

We were promised a new broom at the last general election, but the current Government has proved to be no more than the other side of the same political establishment coin. The public-sector trade unions are being allowed to screw the whole country all over again, and we don’t have a political party which is prepared to protect the taxpayers of Ireland.