Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I believe the Minister would have answered the Priority Question I tabled had his officials let him. I am asking him to go back to his Department and tell it to stop blocking him as Minister from answering questions and me as an Opposition spokesperson from tabling them. We had this last year. I tabled a question to the Minister asking him about the implications for State agencies that fail to comply with consolidated public sector pay scales by continuing to make top-up payments to staff and when the Minister expected to have the matter resolved. I know the Minister would have wanted to answer that question. Could he go back to his Department and tell his officials to let him answer? They will have some obtuse reason such as it was spoken about two months ago and, therefore, they think the matter is closed. They are doing this House a disservice. The Minister's Department is the Department responsible for political reform but it refused to allow that question. It referred it to the Department of Health. Someone thinks it relates exclusively to section 38 and section 39 agreements but it could relate to health or arts and culture. It could relate to many Departments.

The Psychiatric Nurses Association of Ireland has been in contact with me and has highlighted various issues and difficulties. I know it has been through the Labour Court but the association was excluded from the Labour Court procedures. The association has highlighted what we have highlighted in the House before. The unfair treatment of pregnancy related illness under this scheme is not adequately dealt with. It discriminates against people with disabilities or mental health issues and the retrospective element is unfair to people who had critical illnesses in the past. There is a new definition in this legislation but some of the people who will have no sick leave available to them to carry forward would have come in under critical illness in the past but are now being excluded. There are people who have serious difficulties. I mentioned psychiatric nurses but they could be gardaí, firemen or prison officers. These need to be addressed.

When the legislation was going through, I asked the Minister to clarify the situation whereby a person's half pay after three months could in many cases be less than the household entitlement to a social welfare payment if the person was on disability allowance and claiming for an adult dependant and their three children, but he did not provide this clarification. What happens in this case? Will the various Departments try to make a profit out of this at the expense of people's social welfare payments? I got a convoluted answer and was told to ask the Department of Social Protection, but it relates to the Minister as the employer in the public service in the first instance.

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