Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)

I take this opportunity to extend my support and that of Sinn Féin, as expressed at our Ard-Fheis last month, for the demand of the nurses for a 35-hour week and the resolution of outstanding pay anomalies. It is a scandal that the INO and the PNA should have to undertake a work to rule. This Government and the health service employers stand indicted that they have failed to resolve the key issues — issues that have been the subject of negotiation not for a few weeks or a few months past but for six years.

In calling the work to rule, the INO and PNA expressed their "extreme disappointment and frustration at the failure of Health Service Employers to agree, despite previous statements that openness and creativity would be applied, a date for the introduction of a 35-hour week for nurse and midwives and the elimination of a pay anomaly which sees a qualified nurse paid less than an unqualified social care worker".

The climate in which this work to rule is taking place was worsened significantly by the statement of the Minister last week in the context of the separate Cork University Maternity Hospital dispute. She accused the nurses and midwives of delaying the opening of the hospital for money. The public knows that those nurses and midwives were not motivated by greed but by concern that the new maternity hospital would be properly staffed so that mothers and babies could receive the best care. I welcome the resolution of that dispute and the opening of the new hospital as of last Saturday but what lessons have been learned by the Minister, the Department and the HSE?

Nurses and midwives are clearly not prepared to tolerate any longer the understaffing and overworking which they face as front-line workers in a hospital system that is in perpetual crisis thanks to the bad policy and bad management of this Government and of the HSE. I have no doubt this work to rule would never have arisen in a system where real reform was under way and where patients and staff knew that resources were being used in the best way to deliver care equitably and efficiently to all who need it.

The mantra of benchmarking again trundled out in the Minister's contribution this evening has been much used and abused in this dispute. The attitude of the nurses was expressed when they announced the escalation of their protest action in March. They stated then: "As each day passes, the frustration of our members nationwide increases as they hear the one line retort of "go to benchmarking" from management grades who obtained a pay increase without having to go to benchmarking. The top three advisers of the HSE and the chief executive, Professor Brendan Drumm, between them were paid €1 million in just 15 months up to January this year. What benchmarking applied in their case?

For the sake of patients, their families, nurses and midwives, this dispute needs to be settled soon and justly. That is a very important point. The Minister should intervene immediately to ensure that the dispute is resolved speedily through the granting of the shorter working week and the resolution of the outstanding pay issues. The Taoiseach must join with the Minister in that exercise to ensure that the coalition partners of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats face up to their responsibilities in the dying days of this Administration. Nurses and midwives previously took action in support of patients and demanded action to address the crisis in our hospital services. The nurses and midwives deserve our support for their just demands and I wish them success in their efforts to ensure that justice in pay and working conditions is restored to them and that we have a service of which everyone can be proud.

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