Oct 19, 2026 · 49 min · 13 segments
Europe on the edge. Violent protests in France are spreading to neighbouring countries amid growing anger over the cost of living and rising fuel prices. Could the continent be facing a winter of…
Gavan ReillyHost
John O'BrennanGuest
Elaine LoughlinGuest
David W. HigginsGuest
And look at both sides have said that they want certain things out of these talks.
The union stating that pay has to be on the agenda, not only on the agenda, but top of the agenda.
And it does seem like the government has given in, if you want to call it that, to that request.
But you're right, the Taoiseach was out yesterday and he did say that productivity will have to be part and parcel of these talks as they progress beyond pay.
He also mentioned as well that perhaps lower paid workers in the public service should be protected, should be supported.
So whether or not we see maybe two tiers of pay increase as these talks go on remains to be seen, but certainly he wants to see those lower paid workers protected from the cost of living crisis, especially.
John, that sounds like preconditions to me, exactly the sort that Miho Martin and others in government were saying were absolutely non-negotiable for last week.
The whole issue of productivity within public sector pay talks is one that, at least since the crisis, we've heard about again and again.
there's no real effort made, I think, by either government or the unions to properly define, or police, which is actually more important once the agreements are actually in place, what productivity actually means.
And I can tell you within the university system, and it's not very different, I think, in the school system, there's only ever been half-hearted measures taken or efforts made to determine what productivity increases are actually...
For example, just to pluck a random example out of the sky, a professor in European politics at Maynooth University, how does one make someone that might hold such a role any more productive than they already are?
I started my day today going to Portlaoise because I'm on the board of a Leaving Cert review programme, and I had the great pleasure of spending all day with teachers there discussing changes to the Politics and Society programme.
The rest of the week will be spent on lectures and all kinds of other different things.
So I think it is performative, but it's also performative, I think, on the union's part.
I mean, their interest, I think Elaine is right, it's in pay, and it's about cost of living and trying to achieve some sort of catch-up for workers who have been really disadvantaged as we've had this second really serious boat of inflation this year's I think we are going to get to an agreement probably before Christmas
David what does productivity look like in the public sector because in most other private sector cases you might have a situation where workers were effectively phasing themselves out or might be redeployed in a more radical way as businesses adopt things like AI for example can't always do that in the public sector so what does productivity sound like there
In education, there's been this great debate around extra hours for preparation of curricula and parent-teacher meetings and all that.
And look at both sides have said that they want certain things out of these talks.
The union stating that pay has to be on the agenda, not only on the agenda, but top of the agenda.
And it does seem like the government has given in, if you want to call it that, to that request.
But you're right, the Taoiseach was out yesterday and he did say that productivity will have to be part and parcel of these talks as they progress beyond pay.
He also mentioned as well that perhaps lower paid workers in the public service should be protected, should be supported.
So whether or not we see maybe two tiers of pay increase as these talks go on remains to be seen, but certainly he wants to see those lower paid workers protected from the cost of living crisis, especially.
John, that sounds like preconditions to me, exactly the sort that Miho Martin and others in government were saying were absolutely non-negotiable for last week.
The whole issue of productivity within public sector pay talks is one that, at least since the crisis, we've heard about again and again.
there's no real effort made, I think, by either government or the unions to properly define, or police, which is actually more important once the agreements are actually in place, what productivity actually means.
And I can tell you within the university system, and it's not very different, I think, in the school system, there's only ever been half-hearted measures taken or efforts made to determine what productivity increases are actually...
For example, just to pluck a random example out of the sky, a professor in European politics at Maynooth University, how does one make someone that might hold such a role any more productive than they already are?
I started my day today going to Portlaoise because I'm on the board of a Leaving Cert review programme, and I had the great pleasure of spending all day with teachers there discussing changes to the Politics and Society programme.
The rest of the week will be spent on lectures and all kinds of other different things.
So I think it is performative, but it's also performative, I think, on the union's part.
I mean, their interest, I think Elaine is right, it's in pay, and it's about cost of living and trying to achieve some sort of catch-up for workers who have been really disadvantaged as we've had this second really serious boat of inflation this year's I think we are going to get to an agreement probably before Christmas
David what does productivity look like in the public sector because in most other private sector cases you might have a situation where workers were effectively phasing themselves out or might be redeployed in a more radical way as businesses adopt things like AI for example can't always do that in the public sector so what does productivity sound like there
In education, there's been this great debate around extra hours for preparation of curricula and parent-teacher meetings and all that.
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