Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests here today and I thank them for what they do. I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the essential section 39 and section 56 workers who are at the coalface of community and voluntary services every day providing essential care and support to some of our most vulnerable citizens. These workers have not had a meaningful pay rise in 15 years. That is 15 budgets where successive Fianna Fáil, Green Party and Fine Gael governments failed to recognise the value of these people and their work by failing to adequately fund section 39 agencies. These agencies have highly skilled and highly qualified people who are still being paid at 2008 wage levels while trying to pay bills and survive a cost-of-living crisis in 2023. The Minister would not do it and I would not do it, and I do not see why they have to do it. Identical jobs in other arenas such as the HSE attract much higher pay rates. I have heard from agencies such as Cheshire Ireland, which cares for our elderly loved ones, and other nursing home advocates such as the Alliance detail their constant struggle to recruit and retain their staff simply because those staff can get more money for doing the same job in other areas. The Minister knows this and I know this. We all know why this is happening. This is happening because of the pay disparity. In my area, there are people from County Kildare who work in this sector and still have not gotten a Covid-19 bonus. They ring my office and ask why they got no Covid-19 bonus. Are they not valued the same way as others are? They should be and this needs to be looked at.

Sinn Féin has constantly called on the Government for full pay restoration for all section 39 workers. That call has yet again fallen on deaf ears. These workers are at the end of their patience. They have exhausted every other available avenue before coming to this juncture with the Government, again, putting insurmountable obstacles in their way. The Minister recently said that section 39 workers' pay restoration must be a priority. That begs the question, "whose priority?", because the Minister is not prioritising it. It is clearly not this Government's priority when industrial action is the final resort for workers who are only seeking pay justice and fairness. It is an insult to leave these workers waiting. Pay restoration and pay parity for all section 39 workers is the only action. Anything else is simply not good enough. These people feel they have no option but to withdraw their labour. What will the Minister do before Tuesday? These services are vital. We all know how vital they are and the extent of the work these people do for little or no restoration and pay. Where is the urgency? I too want to know where the Minister for Health is.

Deputy Murnane O'Connor said that when we are in opposition, we can commit to everything. When Sinn Féin commits, we actually mean it.

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