Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are supporting the Fianna Fáil motion. I support some of the points made by members of Fianna Fáil, especially the Cork members and Deputy Michael Moynihan in particular. Deputy Moynihan referred to one of the organisations in Cork. Most Oireachtas Members from Cork met the organisation in the past week or so. Those involved articulated to us that they are in a position where they received approximately €17 million from the HSE. The overall turnover of the organisation is €20 million. The organisation gets additional moneys through various other subscriptions. Already, employers' liability insurance costs €500,000. The organisation is already down €500,000 on the €20 million before it opens its doors on 1 January.

I support the point made by Deputy Moynihan. We are hitting an inflexion point where the very existence of the section 39 organisations is being threatened by virtue of the fact that their overall costs are increasing exponentially such that their ability to deliver the essential services is being impeded and impinged in a major way.

4 o’clock

The motion before us seeks to address the inequality that exists between workers who are doing the same job on the same shop floor but getting different rates of pay. It needs to be supported and I was hoping the Minister's response would contain a more thoughtful exposition of how difficult it is for section 39 workers who are seeking to have their rights vindicated. If there is a possibility of industrial action, it is not sufficient for the Minister to say it has been the subject of discussion between the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Health, or between their officials, for some time. He said the Minister for Health had instructed the HSE to enter into a process of engagement with section 39 agencies in the health sector to establish the factual position regarding pay reductions and restoration. Am I to interpret the Minister as saying there will be a move by Government to equalise the situation? The Minister is nodding but is he saying there will be a restoration of pay for section 39 workers? The Minister has stopped nodding but he is still smiling. I am hopeful there is something in the Minister's language that gives some comfort to those workers in advance of 14 February. I was hopeful there would be more clarity from the Minister because despite the fact that, as he stated, there was an extra €92 million spend on disability services in 2017, for which I give credit to him and his colleagues in the Independent Alliance, we are not seeing any evidence of it in the section 39 organisations which Oireachtas Members from Cork met last week. We need the Government to articulate how that extra spend is translating into real benefits for these organisations because they are still put to the pin of their collar and their future sustainability is still at risk.

We support the motion and I hope the engagement with the HSE leads ultimately to the restoration of pay.

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