Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

It is up to the workers to decide which union they choose to represent them. It is not up to the Taoiseach, the Minister for Health or the HSE. This is not an inter-union dispute. There are plenty of sections of the public sector where the State recognises four trade unions, not the six, seven or eight that the Taoiseach attempted to distort the facts with. There are plenty of places where four unions are recognised. I am sure the Taoiseach is aware of the fact that two of the three unions involved, namely Fórsa and Unite the Union, have less membership combined than NASRA and the PNA. In fact, their combined membership does not even come close to the combined membership of NASRA and the PNA. The rank and file members of the biggest union, SIPTU, support the right of this union to be recognised, as shown by the fact that they have stood on the picket lines.

It is an excuse. The real reason is that the Government does not want the HSE to recognise a union which would not accept and which would challenge and fight the Government's understaffing and underpaying of ambulance personnel and the overstretched and overworked workforce. The trade union movement must not allow these workers to stand alone. The PNA has 6,000 members in the health service and there must be active solidarity with these workers if they continue to be denied their democratic right to have a union recognised.

Is the Taoiseach prepared to try to stop the strike on 2 April by doing a simple thing, namely asking the HSE to sit down and talk to the representatives of the union chosen by more than 500 of these workers?

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