Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

They have been through the Labour Court process. Nurses form a significant part of the public service workforce and, as in all the discussions on public service pay since 1946, these issues are taken together. We have agreed a basis on which pay and conditions for the public service as a whole should be managed and we have created the benchmarking body precisely to provide an objective means of assessing whether particular groups or professions are properly dealt with. The benchmarking body is due to report in the second half of the year and is in a position to review the problems and anomalies the nursing profession feels strongly about.

Regarding the general pay issue, an increase of 10% is available to nurses represented by the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association under the terms of Towards 2016. The nurses have refused to sign up to the terms of that agreement, which applies across the entire public service and the private sector. This is the only reason they have not received their first phase increase, as all the other public servants have. Our position on the point made by the INO has been effectively endorsed in detail by the Labour Court. I always agree with the Labour Court, irrespective of whether it suits the Government, and that is the position I take. Members will understand that, apart from the issue of public service pay, setting aside Labour Court recommendations on crucial issues is not a sensible path to follow.

The Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Cowen, and I have tried to do everything we can to help. We have pointed out to the nurses' unions how they should deal with this issue, as has the Labour Court, and I have explained this to them in our recent discussions.

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