Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

Last night, the Government shot down reports that it plans to table fresh pay proposals to nurses next Monday. In doing so, it brings the country closer to a national pay strike of more than 40,000 nurses, the largest strike organised in the country in quite some time, which Solidarity will support to the hilt. If my constituency of Cork North Central is anything to go by, the nurses enjoy the overwhelming support of the general public, who believe that they are entitled to a pay rise and understand that higher pay for nurses will make for a better health service.

Last week, the Taoiseach tried to pose as a representative for patients when he urged the nurses not to start their strikes on a busy Wednesday. That had no effect on public opinion. How hollow his words were when everybody knows his Government presides over hospital waiting lists of more than 700,000 people. He can recruit support for his stance from the corporate media or some trade union leaders who should know better, but he will not recruit support from the general public because they firmly support the nurses. In fact, the Government will be the loser if it continues to take a hard line. If the Taoiseach does not understand that, he is living in a bubble.

One of the reasons working-class people support the nurses is that those people support what the Taoiseach calls knock-on claims. Every worker in the country, public and private sector alike, deserves a decent pay increase. Many are struggling with the cost of accommodation and childcare, while the working poor, who are struggling just to make ends meet, desperately need one. The Taoiseach will say the country cannot afford it, but a financial transaction tax on shares and derivatives would raise more than twice the funding needed to meet the claim. A tax of 2% on household wealth of more than €1 million would raise more than enough to settle other claims. Record private sector profits show the affordability of pay increases above the current rates. If the capitalist market cannot afford decent pay increases in the fastest-growing economy in Europe, perhaps working people cannot afford the capitalist market.

Is the Taoiseach prepared to consider a U-turn on nurses' pay before it is too late, and before he provokes a major national strike, which, apart from anything else, will do his Government serious harm?

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