Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We all know why FEMPI was introduced and we all know when. However, that was then and this is now. For the past seven years, we have been asking our public servants to take a huge hit. Seven years is a long time in family life, when the number of increasing bills have reduced every aspect of one's standard of living and one is left with the feeling that nothing or very little has been given in return. The financial and emotional strain that has been put on individuals and families during this time has been immeasurable. Marriages have failed, houses have been repossessed, educational opportunities have been missed and families have watched as their loved ones emigrated to countries where front-line services are appreciated.

Over the past few weeks, I have taken part in many debates in this House centred around our health, justice and education systems. These systems are floundering for many reasons, not least because of morale. We cannot continue to expect our nurses, teachers, gardaí, doctors and soldiers to take punishment for a crime they believe they did not commit. I could speak for hours about the circumstances of many different individuals that I know but I will instead focus on a married couple who are neighbours of mine. Both of them are employed as teachers, living in Kildare but working in Dublin. Like 50% of the working population in Kildare, they must commute to Dublin as rents there are way too high. They are struggling to save for a deposit for a house, which is difficult while paying exorbitant rent. They have a baby on the way and would like to have some certainty in terms of their future and accommodation. They cannot afford any more pay cuts, nor can they afford to pay for the 33 extra hours of child care needed for them to engage in Croke Park hours. Between last August and December, the woman in this marriage had already worked an extra 150 hours outside of the 22 hours teaching between year head work - unpaid because there is no A post - teaching preparation and planning, as well as teams and committees. Since both are teachers, they have both lost supervision and substitution money and both pay the extra public sector tax, namely, the pension levy. They are struggling to exist even before their child is born, subsequent to which they will have to make provision for child care costs. They need to know that their quality of life will improve immediately and will continue to do so. They need to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

The FEMPI measures played a central role in meeting critical financial targets. Many would argue that while FEMPI was a necessary evil, it was imposed on the easy targets, those in front line services. In most cases, these are the people occupying roles that are often described as vocations or groups that cannot engage in collective bargaining, professions that inculcate a sense of duty in their members and that carry out a job irrespective of pay and conditions in order to serve the public. Public servants are at breaking point. It is not in the public or national interest to have these professionals operating as under-paid government employees, who in many cases no longer have a sense of duty or appreciation and have certainly lost morale.

Realistically, FEMPI cannot be repealed overnight with the stroke of a pen. However, it must be withdrawn soon if, as a country, we are to hold on to the loyalty of our public servants. If we are to recruit new public servants, pay parity must be restored. Pay and conditions for public servants have been allowed to deteriorate to the point where these valuable workers are barely able to survive. They are certainly not in a position to put money back into the economy. Future pay agreements should focus on low and middle income earners and equality of treatment for new entrants.

Unequal pay in teaching and all front-line public services is a stain on the equality values of this country. We must put equity back in the conversation with equality. While front-line public sector workers had nothing to do with the economic crisis, they have done more than their fair share of the recovery. I understand that under the circumstances the FEMPI measures needed to be put in place for public servants but, as previously stated by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, "the emergency is over", with evidence to back this up from a variety of recent growth statistics. The Government cannot now treat these temporary emergency pay levels as new norms to be bartered up from. There is something radically wrong when a couple living together, both working in supposedly good jobs, are struggling to pay their bills every Friday. As a society, we have much to gain from putting in place proper pay and conditions and resources to the people who care for and nurture our sick, our students and who keep us safe in our homes and communities, often putting their own lives at risk. We need to attract and retain the very best of people in these jobs.

Many years ago, a wise man said to me in relation to appreciation: "Soldiers die for it and babies cry for it." We need to appreciate the people at the coalface of our services and to do so in a proper way by restoring pay and conditions, giving them adequate resources and restoring pay parity.

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