Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak tonight. Many Deputies have spoken about the inadequacies of the legislation, which need to be emphasised and emphasised again. Last week, we passed the Finance Bill in the House. Parts of the Bill and amendments to it were intended to address the appalling vista that AIB is going to pay no tax in the State for the next 20 years because it can write off its losses on foot of measures introduced and facilitated by the Government. It is galling for workers in the public sector who feel that it is precisely their pay cuts and the reductions in their terms and conditions of employment which were used to fund the bailout of that very same bank. As pensioners in the public sector pointed out to me recently, not only is AIB not paying any tax, it has paid increases to its staff. Public sector pensioners and workers consider those pay increases to have been funded at their expense. It is utterly galling.

While we are glad to see any pay restoration as, I am sure, are public sector workers after such a prolonged period of austerity, this is a partial not a full restoration. It is certainly not the pay rise which the current economic situation requires. Years ago, a nurse and a garda who got married would consider themselves to be made up. They were on the pig's back. That is not the case anymore. A nurse and a garda cannot even afford to rent in this city, never mind buy a house in the face of the cataclysmic price increases in the private housing market. Year on year, there have been increases in prices. It was 8% in 2015, 11.8% last year, 12.8% this year and the ESRI predicts that house prices will rise by a further 20% by 2020. Rents increased by over 11% this year and are now 23% ahead of the 2008 level. Somebody starting out in the public sector is not going to be able to put a roof over his or her head. A couple will not even be able to do it. If, God forbid, like many people who get together, they want to have a kid, their problems will really start. They will not be able to fund a crèche, the average weekly cost of which is €174 for one full-time place. We have to point these facts out as a starting point because that is the backdrop to the pay and conditions we expect our public sector workers to endure. In contrast with the spiralling cost of living, the provisions in the Bill are being offered on a piecemeal basis. While 90% sounds good, we should be clear that it is over four years and will not be complete until 2021. God knows, what prices will be at that stage.

There are a number of very problematic measures in the Bill, as has been pointed out. It fails to reverse the inequality introduced by FEMPI for new entrants. It proposes significant sanctions for members of unions who do not vote in favour of it and it proposes an additional pension contribution for public servants which is, in essence, a permanent pay cut. As such, we are certainly of the view that sections 21 and 33 should be removed from the Bill. Some trade unions have clearly been bullied into accepting the terms because of the chilling effect of a sanction freezing increments if they do not vote in favour of the deal. Obviously, their members are feeling the pinch and need their pay restored after enduring the austerity of the past number of years. However, I am glad that not all unions have backed down.

I salute the efforts of the three teacher unions which voted against the deal and publicly stated their opposition to the Bill. They have rightly pointed out that the legislation contains no reversal of the cuts to the starting salaries of their members hired after 2011. In contrast, it reverses the cuts for Members here, ex-taoisigh and so on. Not only does the inbuilt inequality remain; the unions and their members will be tied into those terms for the duration of the deal, namely, until 2021. This is a serious curtailment of the freedom of unions to negotiate on behalf of their members. In addition, the punitive powers contained in the Bill for those unions which vote against the Bill are an attack on the democratic wishes of union members and their freedom to bargain collectively, which is thereby undermined. That is not acceptable.

Many points have been made on the inequality new teachers are expected to accept where, let us be clear, they can even manage to achieve a full-time position. Achieving a full-time job comes after years of study and, probably, after years of being kicked around between schools on part-time contracts. It is unfair that they are disadvantaged. There is little point in us crowing about economic growth if we do not make significant investments in education, health and social care. That means paying workers fairly.

I will not repeat the points which have been made except to say that the starting salary for teachers recruited after 2011 is just over €30,000 while the average industrial wage is €37,000. On the current teacher pay scale, it takes six years to get to the average industrial wage. For other low-paid civil servants, it is even worse. They need to advance 16 increments on the payscale which is, in effect, a 16 year wait for a living wage. We cannot let the opportunity pass without highlighting the number of our public servants who rely on family income supplement. It is an absolutely ridiculous situation that we have to dip into the social welfare pot because we are not paying our public sector workers enough. The economic impact of that is also ridiculous. These are the people who go to local hairdressers and shops and boost the economy further.

I do not have time to go into detail, but the position of nurses is the worst of all. They have a starting salary of €28,600. Low pay in that profession has gutted it. Recruitment numbers are being wiped out by the number of highly qualified and dedicated nurses who have been driven out of the country by longer hours and lower pay. Countries like the UK, USA, Australia, Canada and Saudi Arabia are queuing up to employ our nurses who have been trained here. The gutting that has taken place over the last two years is ridiculous. We should emphasise the point that these professions are dominated by women.

We waffle on about gender inequality but these are the ones who have been hardest hit. As our qualified nurses are being sought elsewhere and have moved about because of the low pay here, we have the double whammy of the Health Service Executive, HSE, being obliged to recruit nurses from other countries, in the main from the developing world, in a practice that is frowned upon by the International Labour Organization as unethical. We do not have a shortage of personnel here; we just have forced them out through low pay and then we recruit from other countries where they do have a shortage of medical personnel. It is unethical and unacceptable. The Bill will have to be heavily amended to adjust the problems caused by FEMPI.

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