Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Once again the Taoiseach has tried to play up the question of inconveniences to patients as a way of making his case against the nurses' strike. Before coming to the Chamber, I looked up this morning's trolley watch figures. They have fallen slightly, but for the third consecutive day the figure is in excess of 500. The Taoiseach and the Government have no credibility in trying to pose themselves as champions of patients in the context of the dispute.

Similarly, the Taoiseach tried to bring in the issue of Brexit in making his case against the strike. Working people will not be impressed by that in any sense, and the Government will not get away with using Brexit as a way of standing against the rights of working people.

There is one rule for the people at the top and one rule for ordinary working people on the ground. The bosses of the top 20 ISEQ companies are paid 33 times more, on average than their staff's salaries. Some of the chief executive officers have wages of more than €5 million. The Taoiseach will shrug his shoulders and say it is because of market forces, but he will ignore that the labour market demands that nurses be paid. They are paid 20% more in the private sector. They should be paid the going rate to avoid the strike. If there is any discomfiture, inconvenience or worse to patients as a result of a strike, it will be due to the hard line taken by the Taoiseach and his Government.

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