David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the recognition Mr. Reid has just given them, which I accept in good faith. They are critical to the roll-out of acute services. The issues they are raising have prevailed for a decade or longer and they have been in and out of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC. We are being told that the resolution of this issue would cost about €10 million a year. The last time Mr. Reid was before an Oireachtas committee, he was with Mr. Robert Watt and there were questions - I will not get into the rights and wrongs of it - about a secondment of one individual which would have cost €2 million a year. The money was found to enable that to happen and it has since been paused. We are being told that it would cost €10 million to deal with 2,000 medical scientists who have a claim. Why are we at a point where they are engaged in industrial action? My understanding is that they paused any industrial action during the pandemic because they wanted to make sure they were in place to do their best, as Mr. Reid acknowledged they have done. Why is this issue not resolved by now? What steps will Mr. Reid and the HSE take to resolve it?