John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reply of the Minister of State is almost identical to the reply I received on 1 October but, unfortunately, no progress has been made. Hence the ballot for strike action took place. It is ironic that the last line of the Minister of State's reply states he has been advised there was a specific issue relating to CHO4, which is the Cork and Kerry area, and these issues have since been resolved by the HSE. They might be resolved in the minds of the HSE but they are certainly not resolved in the minds of the healthcare support assistants. This is why I am raising the issue in a Topical Issue debate.

I will point out again the key issues that need to be resolved. No contracts have been offered to the healthcare support assistants as yet. There is no recognition of travelling time. No rostering is in place and the Organisation of Working Time Act is being continually broken. We are asking people to work under conditions that break the Organisation of Working Time Act which, in my opinion, is unsafe and unfair. There has been no evaluation of their hours. As I have stated, no break time is given and they are entitled to break time as is every worker. I plead with the Minister of State for once and for all. These people provide an invaluable service to our health system. Rather than the HSE giving the Minister of State assurances that things are in place when, in fact, they are not, will he follow this up and make sure the HSE does what it has promised to do and implement what is a WRC recommendation?

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