Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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My last question concerns the section 39 organisations. If I am reading Mr. Reid and the Minister of State correctly concerning the need to address the imbalance here on the pay parity side, there is a responsibility, and I say this respectfully, on the Government to engage with the trade unions and the representatives of employees to address this subject. I say this because, and the Co-Chair will attest to this, we have a facility in north County Cork, namely, St. Joseph's Foundation located at Cooleens House, and every time I submit a parliamentary question - and there is a plethora of them now - the response I get back refers to the problem of recruitment and being unable to recruit. My fear is that what has happened is that people have moved over from one service to another, because, whether people like it or not, there is this perception that there is this type of Darwinian system where the HSE has recruited and taken on people from section 38 and 39 organisations because of better terms and conditions. If we do not address this aspect, we will be at nothing.