Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am conscious that it is ten years since many of these people got an increase. It must be an impossible task. They are constantly being recruited by the health service, particularly those involved in community care and in the drugs area. These staff are being headhunted all the time, which is having an impact locally in many areas. Again, I appeal to whoever is involved in negotiations to resolve this as soon as possible. It is impacting on people's lives. People want to stay locally in their communities where they can see that they are having a huge impact and they have buy-in and they have a loyalty to particular areas but loyalty can only go so far. As I have said, waiting ten years to try to get an increase is unacceptable in any system.