Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I start by welcoming to the Gallery the members of the National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers, and, more importantly, I want to welcome those service users who are here because they are understandably, justifiably, and incredibly anxious at the moment that the Government has allowed this to deteriorate to the level where we are now mere days from a very serious industrial action.

As the Minister of State knows, the industrial action is taking place following the breakdown of Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, talks in July. We are now in October so the Government has had all of that time to come to the table. This is not, as the Minister of State said in her contribution, one of those rare instances where all of the parties involved in the discussions are effectively on the same side because if the Government was on the same side as the service providers, or indeed as the unions, this matter would be resolved.

When the pay was cut by Fianna Fáil and the Green Party back in 2008 and 2009, a number of issues were raised at the time, all of which related to funding. I was a representative of those workers at the time and I remember it very clearly. A number of organisations were taken to the Labour Court but the advice from the then Government was very clear. It was to cut the pay. These organisations were told that their grant had been decreased. The service providers asked what would they to do as they would not be able to deliver the level of service. The response from the Government was that they would deliver that level of service and that there would be no reduction in service delivery. Where else could these organisations cut only to cut pay?

For workers in the public service, there was a route back to pay restoration. There was not a route to pay restoration for these workers and, as a result of that, notwithstanding the small interventions which have been made, it is estimated that the pay difference is more than 10%, and in some instances, is up to 20%. The end result of this is that these organisations are now haemorrhaging staff to the HSE. Staff are leaving to go to the retail sector because they know that it will pay better. Believe me, they do not want to have to do this.

I spoke to workers in the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, Fórsa and SIPTU recently and they are saying that they will be on the picket line if they have to, but that they will have tears in their eyes. They do not want to have to leave the people who depend on the services and do not want to be on strike, but the Minister of State's Government has left them with no choice. They have made themselves available for discussions, they have rejected the quite frankly derisory offer which was made, bearing in mind that The Wheel is estimating that the difference could be as much as 20%. Some 5% is obviously not going to do it.

The Minister of State had to have known that the 5% was not going to be a runner, and that that was effectively going to insult the organisations. She is now a Minister of State, so she knew that this would be an insult to the people who were down in the WRC. She comes in here, months later, and says everybody should making their best efforts when she knows that at every turn, the workers have said that they are available for discussions.

I raised this issue with the Tánaiste last week and I asked about contingency arrangements. There are no contingency arrangements. The Minister of State was correct when she said that the service users are panicked, anxious and worried. Of course they are, because they do not know what is going to happen but they see that the Government is fairly intractable on this.

I welcome the Minister of State’s commitment that this is going to involve extra funding. That is a clear signal to the unions that there will be extra on the table and a clear signal that the Minister of State knows that that 5% was an outright insult to the men and women delivering the services.

Let us not forget that 70% of services, which are provided to persons with disabilities on behalf of the Minister of State’s Government and the State, are provided by voluntary providers. They are doing the work of the State but are doing it for significantly less money than their comparators within the HSE and the other services.

I take issue with the Minister of State when she said she was “delighted”, no less, to announce earlier this week an additional €195 million. I am looking at a response, however, from the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, which was sent to our party leader where it said that €131 million of that funding was for existing levels of service. How is that then an additional €195 million? It is not as €131 million of that was just to stand still. There is, therefore, not very much by way of additional services or additional money.

The response from the Department states that section 39 and section 56 organisations are privately-owned and operated and that the terms and conditions of employment of staff in those organisations are ultimately between the employer and their employees. Is the Department actively trying to drive these workers to the picket line?

See this speech in context