Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take six minutes and my colleagues will share the rest of the time. I am pleased to be able to contribute this afternoon in support of nurses and midwives. I welcome the nurses and midwives who are in the Gallery. The Minister has said that strike action is not an answer. I have never heard any Minister say that strike action is the answer to any problem. According to the nurses and the midwives themselves, strike action is the answer in this case. That is what they have balloted for. No nurse or midwife, or no representative of nurses or midwives, will thank us if we try to negotiate a settlement to this dispute on the floor of the House. That is not what we are trying to do. As we make clear in our amendment, the parties to the dispute must be given the space to ensure negotiations can take place and the matter can be resolved. We are all at one on that. Nobody wants to see nurses and midwives on the picket line, but the Government must understand that is where they will go unless there is a change in approach. The Government's approach has got us this far. There are two weeks to go until pickets will be placed and industrial action will be taken.

Sinn Féin fully supports the nurses and midwives. While we support the aims of the Fianna Fáil motion, we have tabled a joint amendment with Independents 4 Change, the Social Democrats and the Labour Party to seek to strengthen the motion by including a reference to the fact that pay must "form part of any resolution to this dispute". The pay of nurses and midwives is an important issue that has been ongoing for many years, as is the recruitment and retention crisis. As we all know, the situation has been deteriorating at a significant rate recently. The Minister cannot be unaware of this. He did not listen when the nurses told him about this fact. They are voting with their feet and emigrating. Approximately 80% of those who are leaving the profession of nursing and midwifery are resigning rather than retiring. They are leaving the health service. They are telling the Minister how they feel with their feet. Now they have a ballot for industrial action, but it still seems like the Minister is not getting the message. He cannot pretend that this issue has taken the Government by surprise. I have been raising this issue week in, week out since I walked in the door of this place.

Fine Gael has had almost eight years to address the recruitment and retention crisis crippling this country's health service, but it has completely failed to do so. As a result, the situation has deteriorated. Last year, Sinn Féin introduced a Private Members' motion on the pay and recruitment of nurses and midwives. It was unanimously passed by this House, but its recommendations were not implemented; in fact, they were ignored. The situation has escalated and we now have an industrial relations crisis. The last thing that nurses, midwives and other healthcare professionals want to do is go on strike. In this case, they have been left with no option. Members of the INMO and the PNA are not taking the decision to strike lightly. It is their last resort. The Minister referred to industrial relations mechanisms. The people in the Public Gallery know - they do not need me to tell them - that strikes happen when all the industrial relations machinery has been exhausted and discussions have taken place locally and at the WRC. When discussions come to an end, a call is made for a ballot. Reference has been made to the industrial relations machinery of the State, but face-to-face negotiations are needed because they represent the only way of resolving this dispute.

The unions have continuously sought engagement with the Ministers for Health and Finance to address the core problem. That is what is at the heart of this matter. Engagement with both Ministers is the key to resolving this dispute. The unions have proposed sensible and responsible solutions with a view to addressing the crisis and averting industrial action, but they have all been ignored. Members of the Government have tried to shift the blame for the crisis it has created to nurses and midwives who are working on the front line. For the avoidance of any doubt, I am referring to the Taoiseach's comments about nurses and midwives taking holidays to which they have a legal and lawful entitlement. I hope nurses and midwives continue to take their holidays because if anyone deserves a holiday, it is them. This crisis has not been caused by people taking holidays - it has been caused by the fact that there is just not enough staff. Holidays can and should be taken, and there should be cover. The Taoiseach's comments revealed an awful lot about the Government's attitude.

Given that pay is central to this dispute, it is mystifying that the Fianna Fáil motion does not mention pay. We all know what Fianna Fáil's view on the pay of nurses and midwives is. It has been mentioned. I do not believe nurses are well paid. I would not say they are in the top five or the top three or whatever it is. If this motion is Fianna Fáil's effort to apologise for the things its members have said, it should man up and apologise to the nurses for trying to malign them by saying they are overpaid. If that is what Fianna Fáil is trying to do, it should dispense with all the fancy words and apologise. The nurses and midwives have said that while pay might not be the entire problem, it must be part of the solution. I have to ask Fianna Fáil why the serious issue of recruitment and retention and the issues raised by the nurses did not form part of its negotiations with Fine Gael on three successive budgets. It has renewed the confidence and supply arrangement without securing any commitments for anything. Nurses and midwives deserve our support. We should support them in their demands. They are fighting for the staff needed to be able to deliver a decent health service and to deliver Sláintecare.

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