Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----all of which will have a big impact on those we care about and those we represent.

At the heart of this is our ability to strike a balance between public pay needs and the need to make service and capital investments. We must strike a balance between the two. In this Dáil, I as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform had to deal with the last chain event, when a decision was made relating to one group of public servants and within 24 hours, the same needs crystallised with every other public servant. That is the great risk and challenge that we face.

Those members of Fianna Fáil who have spoken on this issue today have said that we should pay more to the nurses now. I can understand why they would say that, given the care that they see nurses providing, which I also see in my community and constituency. However, that is not what the motion before us calls for; rather it calls for the setting up of a commission. I have already dealt with the issue of the risks involved in doing more for one group. Equally, if we go down the route of setting up a commission in this instance, every other group within our public service would then ask for the same judge-led commission, the consequence of which would be an end to collective wage agreements. Fianna Fáil was a catalyst for collective wage agreements. As a party, it focused on how collective wage agreements can responsibly meet the needs of our society, while also meeting the needs of those who provide public services. That route will spell massive difficulty in terms of keeping the existing wage agreement in place and in terms of the ability for any future wage agreement to be negotiated at a time when we are facing such enormous risks to our economy.

I will end where I began by underscoring the huge respect and appreciation I have for the work our nurses do all over the country. However, I would ask everyone to consider how, in meeting the need they have articulated, we can deal with the consequences of doing so, especially given that the need expressed by the nursing unions amounts to a wage increase of 12%. How would colleagues respond to the raised expectations of the rest of those who work for the State? The challenge in meeting that is too great which is why, as the Minister of State has already said, we will do all we can but only within the current wage agreement. We will respect the wage agreement and we will not change it but we will see if the machinery of State can engage with those who work in the nursing profession to resolve outstanding issues.

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