David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is unacceptable that the Minister for Health has left before he has listened to the Opposition respond to the Private Members' business. He made his own contribution, he listened to contributions from his partners in government in Fianna Fáil but he was not present to listen to the contributions made by the Opposition in Sinn Féin and other Opposition Deputies who will speak. If he listened to us last year when we moved a motion on the retention and recruitment crisis in nursing and in our health service, he would not have found himself in the position he found himself in over recent months, which is in direct conflict with nurses. We tabled a motion, which was supported by Fianna Fáil at the time and most of the Opposition, that identified all the problems that needed to be addressed and we said that while pay was front and centre, it was not the only issue. The Government ignored the motion, it would not support it and then it found itself in conflict with nurses. The Government brought that on itself.

There are solutions out there. The same is happening with the ambulance paramedics and with GPs where there is the potential for a conflict and industrial action with nurses. I agree that it is up to nursing unions and nurses themselves to work out their responses to the Labour Court recommendation. It is a matter for nurses but it is the Government's job to put in place solutions and to value people and to treat them with respect.

It is not treating nurses with respect when Ministers ignores their plight for years on end, are tone deaf to the issues they raise and then come to the Chamber, as members of the Government and Fianna Fáil have done, and state that they respect nurses and that they are very good at what they do. There are hollow words and tea and sympathy, but the Government has not put in place any of the solutions that are necessary to support nurses. The Minister has not done enough.

I appeal to the Minister to listen to what the nurses unions, the PNA and the GPs' representative groups are saying and to what the Opposition has been telling him for the Past year, which is that he is making a mess of our health service. He is prioritising private health care and is not making the necessary investments in public health. He is tone deaf to those on the front line who are bearing the brunt not just of Fine Gael's cuts but also those introduced by Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil cut and chopped our health service when it was in government. In fact, Fianna Fáil introduced the two-tier pay structure that lies at the core of the dispute, whereby people are on different pay scales. Fianna Fáil must take responsibility for that.

There have been enough hollow words and tea and sympathy. Nurses and other public sector workers need real support. Pay is part of that, but it is not the only issue.

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