Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The subjects of concern at the heart of this Private Members' motion are not the entities referred to as section 39 agencies but the employees of these bodies, the thousands of ordinary, decent workers who provide essential services and supports that focus on the needs of people with intellectual and learning difficulties and an ever growing number of senior citizens. They are people who face all the same demands and responsibilities in life as everyone else. They are not different, and in a recovering economy they must not be left behind. That, however, is what is happening.

They had their pay rates cut at the insistence of the Health Service Executive in line with their public service counterparts under the so-called financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, cuts. The Government, in its various guises, namely, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health and its agents, the HSE, is refusing to restore the block grants to the section 39 agencies to allow these organisations to restore pay rates to their employees in line with what is happening across the public service. How can the Government insist that the wages of the workers in question be cut in line with those of another set of employees, while refusing to restore the pay of the workers in question in line with pay restoration for their public service counterparts? It cannot sustain this argument because unless the block grants are increased appropriately, the section 39 agencies will not be able to restore their employees' pay. The alternative would be further service reduction to those most in need. That option cannot be contemplated. There must be no service cuts. There can only be restored provision to allow for restored parity of pay.

There are some heavy hitters among the list of section 39 agencies. One could argue that a small number of them may have independent capacity to address the need to restore pay rates. The Minister of State should make no mistake about this, however, because the overwhelming number of section 39 agencies have no such wherewithal and are wholly reliant on State support through the HSE to sustain and develop the much-needed services and supports they provide.

Section 39 agencies have service level agreements with the HSE to provide services at a community level in the areas of intellectual disability, learning disabilities and sensory needs. While section 39 agency employees are not public servants, they had their pay rates cut in line with public servants on the instruction of the HSE. There is no doubt that there is a direct link between the pay rates of these two sets of workers. This link cannot operate only in one direction. If a linkage is made when cuts are implemented, a linkage must also be made when pay restoration takes place.

Since the commencement of pay restoration to public servants through the Haddington Road and Lansdowne Road agreements, section 39 agencies have sought the restoration of their block grants to allow for the reversal of the pay cuts imposed on their employees. The HSE has thus far not moved, however. The Taoiseach confirmed the pay linkage in the Dáil before Christmas. It is now past time that he translated his words into actions by having this glaring anomaly and injustice addressed by his Ministers and their Departments. I urge unanimous support for the motion before the House.

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