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

On foot of the Deputy raising this matter, I asked the Department to do some work for me to tell me how much funding goes to section 39 organisations and what has been the trend in that funding over the past few years. I also asked for an update on whether organisations implemented pay reductions that were consistent with the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, and if so how they did that. I acknowledge and am familiar with the work of the hospice movement and with the hospice the Deputy refers to.

In 2016 just over €1 billion was made available to section 39 organisations. I then asked for an assessment of how that had changed over the past few years. Between 2014 and 2016 that figure has gone up by 15%. I then asked the Department to tell me whether, for organisations that did go ahead and implement wage reductions, there was any consistency in that. The complexity of this matter arises from the fact that there is not. I have no evidence to say that organisations that, for example, did decide to pass on the pay reductions passed them on at the same time as they were made within the public service. We have to make an assessment that it happened at the same rate as in the public service. That is why it is very difficult for me at this point to give the declaration the Deputy is asking for.

She was good enough to acknowledge the complexity of this issue. It is deeply complex and potentially involves up to 100,000 people in organisations in the State.

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