Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Government has not taken a hard or a soft line on this. The Government has largely stayed out of this dispute. It is a dispute between the union concerned and the HSE. The Government's policy on trade unions and management is, where possible, to try to consolidate trade union representation to make it as structured and as functional as possible. There is a dispute here that we all want to bring to an end. Ambulance workers and paramedics do a great job in difficult circumstances. It is a pressurised job and nobody wants to see people taking strike action repeatedly, which is what has happened here. The Taoiseach and I have said that this is a matter between the trade union concerned and management. There are other trade unions involved as well that have a different view from those who are striking, and from a Government perspective we want to see a resolution to this dispute without any further days of strike action because it is causing disruption. Even though people have been responsible in putting contingency plans in place, it is something that we would like to see brought to an end as soon as possible. We also want to make sure that the relationship between trade unions and management is one that makes sense and that is not spread across too many trade unions. I have never talked about six, seven or eight trade unions but there are a number of trade unions that already represent this group, primarily SIPTU, and the relationship between management and the HSE and the existing, recognised trade unions that represent ambulance workers is a relationship that functions well. This dispute is around a proposal that seeks to change those relationships and looks to create another recognised trade union for this cohort of workers.

I encourage both sides to try to find a resolution that can bring this to a conclusion. I do not think the Deputy is going to see a Minister intervene here to instruct the HSE. That is not the way in which these issues get resolved.

See this speech in context