Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too compliment Deputy Calleary for putting down the motion. The nice flowery language from the Ministers of State, Deputies Finian McGrath and Jim Daly, will not help the people in the Gallery and those who protested outside. In my book, fair play is fine play. Everyone had to take the cuts, except the preserved few, including senior civil servants. They were also exonerated from having to pay the pension levy.

Section 39 organisations are invaluable. Section 38 organisations also do valuable work, but section 39 organisations employees are being discriminated against. Many of us have had our loved ones looked after in day in, day out in hospices. Meals on wheels operate in every town in Tipperary, from Carrick-on-Suir to Clonmel, Cahir, Cashel, Tipperary town, north Tipperary, Thurles and everywhere else.

The Minister of State might say that organisations were not told to impose cuts, but they were expected to do so and it was demanded of them. Voluntary boards run many section 39 organisations. The Irish Wheelchair Association runs on a voluntary basis and has to do significant fundraising to keep afloat. Such organisations have to pay for insurance and everything else. We have the dreaded HIQA imposing guidelines on organisations. One section of the HSE is telling another to do something, but the HSE will not pay for it.

The Government is not stepping up to the plate and paying people. The Government and the Department should remunerate employees appropriately. We discussed equality in many areas. Where is the equality in this? These people give sterling service.

As Deputy Harty said, many of them are poached, and rightly so, because they are good workers. They are keen, trained and up for it. They want to work and play a valuable part in society. All they want is a modicum of respect. The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, might think the Department will get their services on the cheap but it will not because that destroys the community spirit and ethos of the organisations.

There have been hints that the situation might be sorted out. The Department should carry out a proper audit of how many section 39 organisations exist. It has not done this. We also need to know how many employees they have and the costs involved. The Department must make a reasonable effort to look at the situation holistically and fairly and provide a roadmap as to how it will sort out the matter. Fair play is fine play but this stinks. We have money to bail out the bankers and for many other areas as well. Let us take, for example, the money the HSE spends on legal bills, PR, and reports that are gathering dust on shelves every day of the week. The Department should pay the people a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. All people want is equality with the section 38 organisations and other organisations.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, must act up. It is a pity the Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, has left the Chamber because when he used to sit here we could not keep him quiet. He was always on the attack and defending disability organisations in particular.

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