Seanad report: Supporting yesterday's work stoppage by An Post employees, Mr Brian Hayes, the Fine Gael leader in the House, said he believed there was a case for a new management in the postal company.
He said he believed that the workers were absolutely right in respect of the action they were taking. They had not been served by good management in the recent past.
Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said he supported the view that the management had a case to answer.
Mr Brendan Ryan (Labour) said there was another dispute - in Irish Ferries - about which questions needed to be answered. He would like to know what would be the weekly wages of the agency workers who were going to be brought in to replace the Irish workers on the ferry service to France.
Dr Martin Mansergh (FF) referred to the Irish Ferries dispute, and said that the link with France was very important.
Mr Paschal Mooney (FF) said he had been appalled to learn that there was a move to end the EU embargo on the sale of arms to China, despite that country's dreadful human rights record.
Dr Mansergh (FF) said that the Northern Ireland peace process had never been about humiliation, and that word should never have been introduced into the debate.
Mr David Norris (Ind) said that the minute he heard the phrase from Dr Ian Paisley about humiliation and having to wear sackcloth and ashes, he knew that the DUP leader had thrown the whole prize away for the sake of a rhetorical, triumphalist flourish.
Dr Maurice Hayes (Ind) said he believed that it was not a time for recrimination.
Instead, it was a time to recognise the pressures that were on people on all sides.