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

The reason nurses and midwives are on picket lines today is the Taoiseach's failures. I refer to his inaction and absolute failure not just in regard to the pay issue but the recruitment and retention crisis associated with it. I stopped to stand on picket lines with nurses and midwives this morning on my way to work. I was at Temple Street, the Rotunda and the Mater hospitals. Nobody to whom I spoke this morning wanted to be on strike; in fact, it is the very last thing they want. They are upset and angry. They want to be at work and they are aware better than anyone else of the stresses and strains their hospitals are under. However, they are resolute. They feel they have been failed and let down, they have not been listened to and they have been backed into a corner and, therefore, they have taken the action of last resort, which is to strike.

They reject the Taoiseach's reaching for the Brexit excuse. In fact, that made them more angry. I suspect when they hear that the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, is also running for cover behind Brexit, they will be even more deeply angered. As the Taoiseach noted, they have broad support from the public and there is a reason for that. People recognise the quality of care delivered by staff who are underpaid in unbelievably difficult circumstances, particularly in emergency departments but not only there. They are astonished that the Taoiseach, above all people, because he is a medical doctor, does not grasp or get this. They are annoyed that he is sitting on the sidelines. He is acting as a commentator, a dispassionate observer of events. He is in charge, he is the Head of Government, he is the employer, and he has a duty not to pass the buck on this issue and to intervene.

Nurses and midwives are not looking for a special deal. They are not looking for condescension and to be told to wrap up warm and well. They are not looking for sympathy. They are not looking for tears. They are not looking for praise. They are looking for a just and fair settlement. They believe that it can be achieved within the scope of the current pay agreement. That is their view. What they want the Taoiseach to do, as Head of Government, is to come off the sidelines and to engage.

I assume that he accepts that there is a recruitment and retention crisis in nursing. That is a fact. The figures on agency nursing tell us part of that story. I also assume that he accepts that nurses, who are incredibly well qualified, deserve to be well paid, and not insulted by being treated almost as second-class employees within the system. He has accepted that those workers are resolute in their position and that they will not back down.

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