Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome those in the Gallery who are here to listen to this debate. Deputy Joan Collins was due to speak this evening as well but, unfortunately, she had a doctor's appointment so she had to leave.

As we all know, sadly, we are facing into a strike next week by organisations that do not want to put the people they assist at risk, who provide vital services for many of the most vulnerable people in our society. They have been forced into this position by a Government that refuses to recognise the value of the services they provide. I must ask why the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform is not here. The Minister and Minister of State who are present cannot facilitate pay restoration on their own.

It is only the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, and his Department that can sign off on this. It shows what his Department thinks that he would not even bother to be here for this debate.

I mentioned organisations like the Irish Wheelchair Association, which I met last Monday in Donegal to hear of the impact the strike will have. There were many service users in attendance who spoke highly of the support they were getting and who were 100% behind the staff in their strike action. To hear the respect that vulnerable service users had for the staff was humbling and showed the impact that the strike would have on them, but their support was total. It also showed that the amount of respect the Government would lose among the most vulnerable people would be shocking.

These agencies are State funded to provide services that the State has declined or failed to provide, yet the State has cut the funding to them and they have not seen pay restoration since the crash, which was over 12 years ago. These workers are on lesser terms and conditions than their HSE counterparts. According to some organisations, the pay differential is as much as 20%. That is not even to mention that they have no pension entitlements either. This has led to a staff turnover rate of approximately 30% per year, which basically means there is a completely new workforce in place every three years. The loss of knowledge is shocking. How can any organisation work like that?

It is amazing that, in 2023, we are still talking about the effects of the bailout on every part of our society. The carer’s allowance has not been increased since 2008, yet carers were only looking for pay restoration in the budget. Criminal barristers only received partial restoration in this budget of the cuts suffered before the bailout. The pay issue that staff of section 39, 56 and 10 organisations are going on strike over next week dates back to the bailout. Housing was attacked by the troika, and we are still living with that. Thousands of children are homeless because of the bailout and there is no sign of even an attempt to resolve the issue. Maybe if service users of section 39, 56 and 10 organisations were wealthy or educated in the right schools, this matter would have been sorted by now. Sadly, that is the reality as I see it.

The Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform can do the right thing and resolve this strike before it happens. That is not too much to ask. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, should be here listening to the views of Deputies.

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