Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach knows, for a number of months I have been raising the issue of the lack of funding for section 39 bodies to restore pay in line with HSE employees. Many such organisations are involved in disability service provision, hospices and so on. Yesterday the Taoiseach told me that the Ministers for Finance and Health were working out which organisations had cut pay in line with the FEMPI legislation and those which had not. I have been raising this issue for months and would have thought the Ministers for Finance and Health would have been able to resolve the issue. It is with great disappointment that I heard today that SIPTU had run out of patience and announced an intention to ballot on industrial action. It is to ballot workers in RehabCare, the Cheshire Foundation, Western Care Mayo, St. Joseph's Foundation in Cork, SOS Kilkenny, the Cork Association for Autism, Ability West and St. Aidan's Hospital in Wexford This is a national issue. Why the allocation could not have been made in the original Estimates when the public service pay agreement was realised baffles me. There has been too much cynicism and too many delays in doing what is right and just in this case.

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