Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I fully recognise the passion and bite in this debate are a reflection of the importance of the issue. At this point, however, I cannot for the life of me say I have witnessed an urgency in addressing this most important issue.

The Minister of State referred to the potential for industrial action. I wonder whether that is an insight we do not have. When I talked and listened to union representatives, whether they are from SIPTU, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, or Fórsa, they had not heard from the State on this issue. Given she referenced the potential for industrial action, I hope to God the Minister of State does not have much in her diary this weekend and somebody is standing by a table waiting, and I hope it does not go down to the wire, for some form of intervention. In the absence of that, the reality of industrial action on Tuesday will have far-reaching consequences for communities, individuals and people who cannot face what is occurring. The fault for that lies with successive governments. That has to be to the fore of this.

Nobody knows more the impact this will have on service users than those who provide the care for them day in, day out. This has gone on for 13 years. During my time as a Member of the Dáil since 2020, probably the most meetings I have had with people has concerned this issue. We have met over Zoom, they have come to my office, they have protested, and they brought me to visit the centres, all in recognition of the importance of the work we believe we know but cannot truly know until we go in and stare in the whites of the eyes of the service users and see the contribution made by those who deal with them day in, day out. That is why I know full well there will be tears on that picket line on Tuesday. There will be tears on the picket line for as long as this happens because nobody wants this to come to a head, as it seems it will on Tuesday. I hope that we intervene.

This has been going on for 13 years because the cuts were initiated in 2010. In 2018, a 5% increase was offered with an offer of pay parity with HSE workers over a five-year period. That has not materialised. This comes down to a simple principle, namely, parity. It is parity for workers who believe that they do just as important and vital a job as those who are employed by the State, even though they are section 39 workers, as they are also paid by the State.

I cannot help but give voice to some of what will be lost in my community and constituency when this happens on Tuesday. I will go through the list of organisations. The Daughters of Charity child and family resource centre is on Henrietta Street. A couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of speaking at the 100-year anniversary of their early learning programme there. We walked in, were brought around the centre, and we met the workers and service users. I was brought to the crèche area where there was a line-up of identical little coats for the children to ensure that no child who comes into that centre is at the loss of a coat, because it is understood that child poverty and poverty in general are measured by an absence and a want. The centre ensures that no child who comes there is devoid of that warm coat. It has a therapeutic room just so a child can go in and be able to avail of peace and quiet. The centre's staff talked about some of its initiatives. One of the workers there talked to me about the importance of those coats because they try as best they can to bring the children outside, as they often come from overcrowded conditions in complexes that do not often have access to an outdoor space. That will be removed on Tuesday because of what I believe to be an absence of urgency, fairness and a belief in parity and that people doing the same job should be paid the same. It is unfathomable to me.

I see the family resource centres that operate all over the country will be forced to remove their labour on Tuesday. I think of the Hill Street Family Resource Centre in the area where I live and about the best of the north inner city. The well-known percentage is that 40% of families and people who live there were born outside the area. When I go to the Hill Street Family Resource Centre I see all the beauty of that contained there. People from all over the world who have come and found their home in the north inner city go there. They are met with a cup of tea, they get language supports, and it becomes the place where their confidence is built up and they become part of the community. Volunteers and people who are now employed at the centre started there when they found a place of peace and welcome there 20 years ago. That will be removed. Every single day that this strike goes on will have impacts.

I hope to God the diaries of the Minister and Minister of State are clear this weekend. It should never have been allowed to get to this point but we need urgent intervention to get people around a table and to offer parity. The absence of parity is cruel. When we talk about structural and State-led violence, what more can I say about this than community and voluntary workers who work with some of our most vulnerable at-risk groups across a plethora of different societal intervention spaces are being forced, after 13 years of activism, to remove their labour? It is unfathomable to me that this has been allowed happen.

I hope the Cabinet colleagues of the Minister and Minister of State have not simply left them holding the ball on this one. I cannot for the life of me understand why other Ministers are not present. Where is the Minister for Health on this? His absence is very pronounced and felt because some of the organisations he is supposed to oversee will feel this. I strongly urge the Ministers to keep a long table and a place for people to sit. Those representative organisations who have been crying out for the Ministers to meet them should receive a phone call at some point, hopefully tonight, and this can be addressed over the weekend.

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