Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the work that the Minister of State and his Department have done on this. It is critically important for the Government and Ministers sitting around a table to address this issue at a governmental level across the board. When we talk about community-led projects, many would involve sections 38, 39 and 56 organisations in towns. When we talk about the community, voluntary and charity sector, we are talking about a vast array of really vital services that are provided to the community. There is a growing pay gap of between 10% and 12% at those services, which has led to those community, voluntary and charity sector organisations being unable to recruit staff. If one cannot recruit staff, then one cannot provide a service. Some of the services in the community are now unable to provide a full service that they have previously provided, for the simple fact that they do not have the staff and cannot get them because the likes of the HSE and Tusla are recruiting at a much higher grade, with proper pensions and conditions, and all of those things related to working in the public sector. The others in the community and voluntary sector are providing that public service. The Government needs to grapple with this.

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