Ms Ashley Connolly:

I wish members of the committee a good morning. I will be sharing my time with my colleague, Ms Kelly. Fórsa represents more than 33,000 members in our health and welfare division. We confirm and support the submissions of our colleagues from the other health unions and our members share these experiences daily.

The issue of welfare and safety of workers and patients in the public health service is an issue that impacts all grades of staff and crosses all forms of employment in the health sector. It is not confined to any one employer or group. We welcome the committee’s foresight in examining this issue through a holistic lens.

"Leadership starts at the top" is a phrase we have all heard before. Let us examine what that leadership from the Department of Health looks like to our members delivering front-line services. It looks like ignoring fundamental issues of pay parity between healthcare staff in core public health services and the voluntary sector; unilaterally withdrawing protections for staff experiencing long Covid; failure to expand the serious assault scheme to encompass all staff; and arbitrary exclusions from the pandemic recognition payment.

There are many more examples, but time is short. The upshot is that leadership from the Department of Health at this present time means ignoring staff concerns tabled by the union side, or worse still, pretending to deal with them by tying us up in long, drawn-out processes with little or no chance of meaningful, effective outcomes.

The next two years will be significant in the Sláintecare agenda as the HSE restructures into regional health areas, RHAs. We urge the committee to view the upcoming RHA transition as a pivotal moment in challenging the current leadership message from the Department to ensure the RHAs are resourced appropriately and create a culture of meaningful leadership in each regional area.

We also urge the committee to question why the Department is not engaging on the issue of pay parity in the voluntary sector despite the Government's announcements before Christmas. We cannot seriously discuss the welfare and safety of staff if it does address fundamental issues of financial need in a cost-of-living crisis, and fails to address the recruitment and retention issues our members are experiencing across the public health service.