Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The particular work of these organisations in the community and voluntary sector is greatly appreciated, particularly in light of their commitment, dedication and hard work. The organisations deliver a wide array of much-needed support services at community level to a very varied range of users on a day-to-day basis throughout the year.

The Deputy will be aware, however, that the organisations to which she refers are concerns and operations in respect of which my Department does not have actual corporate responsibility or direct involvement. Let us bear in mind the number of people involved. As non-public servants, the staff of such organisations could exceed 100,000. There could be more than 100,000 individuals working in these sectors. Some 300,000 people are working directly for the State. As many as one third more could be working for these organisations. These individuals did not fall within the application of the FEMPI legislation, which involved reductions in pay and increases in pension contributions for public servants. It is correspondingly the case that current public service pay policy does not extend to such organisations. This is a matter for those organisations, which are self-governed and accountable to their management for their own financial resources. It is not the case that many of these organisations are entirely funded by the State. Many of them have their own sources and streams of funding.

Since the Deputy raised the matter with me - she and Deputy Calleary have done so on a number of occasions - I sought to deepen my understanding of what is involved. It is not a uniform case that all of these organisations cut wages. Some organisations did cut wages, which I acknowledge, but others did not. Other organisations may have changed the number of people working for them or made changes to find cost savings elsewhere. A huge number of these organisations come within the remit of the Department of Health, not to mention those that come with the remits of the Departments of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and Children and Youth Affairs.

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