Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On a number of occasions since late 2017 I have raised the disgraceful treatment consistently meted out to hospices, disability organisations and mental health services by the Government, particularly its failure to restore the pay of their employees in line with that of other health service employees. The Minister for Health and the Government have been dishonest on the issue from the outset. Hospices and disability organisations are being treated as if they are second class, while their employees are being treated like second-class citizens. They implemented the FEMPI legislation in 2010 and 2013 and were deliberately excluded by the Government from pay restoration under the public service agreements of the past two years. The Government has stalled on the issue. We all know that these organisations depend significantly on voluntary donations and fundraising in the community. On average, they receive about 75% of their total annual revenue to meet operating costs from the Government and must fund the rest themselves. In particular, they have to raise almost all of their own capital. They have received no increase in funding in recent years to pay increments and meet inflation in non-pay costs. Since the early 2000s, the demand for their services has almost doubled. Hospices, in particular, are efficient and effective, have a significant impact and won the trust of the public, yet they are being treated in a very cynical, dishonest and shabby manner by the Government. It is difficult to comprehend why they were ever left out of pay restoration provided for in the Estimates and allocations, but a cynical decision was taken somewhere to brazen it out. The goalposts and the story keep changing, but, essentially, these organisations have been hung out to dry. I raised the matter with the Taoiseach in October and November 2017 and January this year, but he keeps shifting the goalposts. Fundamentally, this is not an industrial relations issue but a funding issue. It is an issue of basic fairness. Hospices and disability organisations have been short-changed. They have warned us that they will simply have to cut services if pay restoration does not happen in line with that for other health service employees. They face a funding crisis. Will the Taoiseach confirm that funding has been allocated in the Estimates for 2019 to facilitate pay restoration for the employees of hospices, disability organisations and those covered by section 39? When will the Government do the right thing in treating the employees of these organisations in a fair and just manner?

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