Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Déanaim comhbhrón le muintir an cheathrair óig a fuair bás i dTír Chonaill ag an deireadh seachtaine. I want to join the Taoiseach, on behalf of Sinn Féin, to extend sincere and heartfelt sympathy to the families and friends of the four young men who lost their lives in west Donegal at the weekend and to all who have lost their lives on our roads. Our thoughts are with all of those affected. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a n-anamacha.

I am struck by the very laissez-faireapproach the Taoiseach is taking to the fact that in less than 24 hours, members of the INMO are due to commence industrial action in the first of a number of 24-hour stoppages over the coming weeks and his detachment from the fact that members of the PNA will also engage in industrial action. I am sure he knows, as I do, that strike action is the very last thing nurses or midwives, or any medical professional for that matter, wish to undertake but, regrettably, nurses and midwives have been backed into a corner and forced to engage in industrial action because of the action, or inaction, of the Government.

Every day, every week, as the Taoiseach will be well aware, procedures are cancelled across our hospitals. That is due not least to the recruitment and retention crisis affecting the nursing and midwifery professions, and the associated issue of pay is one of the most significant problems affecting the health service. It has been an ongoing issue for many years, yet the Government has completely and abjectly failed to address this and the situation has deteriorated. The Taoiseach cannot pretend that this is an issue that takes him by surprise.

Nurses, midwives and their unions have continually sought meaningful engagement to address the problem of staffing shortages as well as pay issues but he has brushed their concerns aside. It is our nurses and midwives who have acted in a responsible and mature manner. For his part, the Taoiseach has decided to disengage. Nurses make a significant contribution to the health service and to society. They deserve - and I have absolutely no doubt will enjoy - our full support in their demand for a better health service. Last April, we passed a motion in this House, which demanded that the Government engage meaningfully with the unions to draw a roadmap to full pay equality with an implementation plan to deliver same within a short timeframe, not the eight years that it has offered up.

At the eleventh hour, with thousands of surgeries cancelled and with strike action due to commence in the morning, will the Taoiseach do as the nursing unions have asked and directly intervene? Will he intervene as a matter of urgency? Will he listen to what the nurses and their unions are telling him? They believe that this dispute can be resolved within the strictures and the conditions of the pay agreement. They want the Taoiseach, as the employer and as the Head of Government, to intervene, stop sitting on the sidelines, get involved and sort this out.

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