Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has declined to say whether the Government will introduce legislation to impose pay cuts in the wake of the rejection by trade unions of the revised Croke Park public sector pay agreement.

Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin repeatedly asked Mr Gilmore to clarify whether legislation would be imposed. He said public sector workers had rejected the deal because it was “bad for them, their families and bad for public services”.

The Cavan-Monaghan TD said the Irish Congress of Trade Unions had made it clear that any attempt to impose pay cuts through legislation would be vehemently opposed.

Mr Gilmore said they were 85 per cent of the way to fixing the economic problems the Government had inherited. The remaining piece was €3 billion in public spending cuts, he added 35 per cent of public spending consisted of pay.

He said it was important that “we don't put at risk what has already been achieved”.

Hitting out at Sinn Féin, he said that if the Government had taken the party's advice it would be seven months away from entering another bailout programme, rather than being seven months short of exiting the current one.

Mr Ó Caoláin repeated that the Tánaiste had not taken the opportunity to clarify the issue around imposing legislation. “You have taken exactly the same position as the leader of the Fine Gael party,” he said.

United Left Alliance TD Clare Daly said the Tánaiste and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin should join Fine Gael because of their pay cut proposals. She said the rejection of the Croke Park deal was an act of defiance and “a shot in the arm” for low-paid public sector workers.

The early leaders of the Labour Party, she added, would be horrified at the proposals by Mr Howlin to “impose 7 per cent cuts” on workers, telling Mr Gilmore he should “join Fine Gael and take Brendan Howlin with you”.

The Tánaiste insisted the Labour Party had always stood for and would continue to stand by working people.

Turning on the ULA TD, he said: “You can either rant or chant as you do or you can fix” problems and “that is what the Labour Party is trying to do”.