Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The message the Government is sending when it issues this threat is "it is our way or the highway". I remind the House that no trade unionist ever had a ballot on the system of pay apartheid that was unilaterally imposed by the Government to deny young people equal pay for equal work. Given that new-entrant nurses are receiving 10% less pay than existing nurses, is the Minister surprised that the Government is unable to recruit nurses at a time when everybody acknowledges more nurses are needed? When that is considered alongside the mess in the health service, it is no wonder they do not want to work here. This problem is going to get worse as the need for public sector recruitment increases. Even more workers will join the teachers in being paid less when they come in. How are they supposed to afford a roof over their heads? The Minister is simply not addressing the issue of equality about which I asked him. The Government could make Apple pay its taxes to pay for this. That would be an alternative way of boosting the budget.

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