Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I begin, I take this opportunity to extend my deepest sympathies and those of my party to the friends and family of Manus Kelly, who tragically passed away in a terrible accident on Sunday. The people of Donegal took great pride in Manus's many achievements and successes, not least winning the Donegal International Rally three years in a row. His dedication and professionalism to his sporting achievements as a rally driver extended to other aspects of his life. He employed dozens of people in Letterkenny and, as the Taoiseach referred to, was recently elected to represent the people of that electoral area. My thoughts are with his friends, family and party colleagues at this very difficult time. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Tomorrow, up to 10,000 support staff working across the State in 38 hospitals and healthcare facilities will strike, unless the Government lives up to the promises, commitments and agreements it has made. That is the long and the short of it. These workers include hospital porters, healthcare assistants, maternity care assistants and surgical instrument technicians. We can all agree that, without these workers, our hospitals would not be cleaned, our patients would not receive food and the health service would not function properly. They perform invaluable work and deserve to be treated and paid accordingly.

The job evaluation scheme, which ensured that workers were paid appropriately to reflect the changing skills and demands that their work requires, was suspended in 2009. This was reversed as part of the Lansdowne Road agreement, and recommencement of the job evaluation scheme was agreed and signed off by the Government back in 2015. In 2017, job evaluations were carried out and it was found that workers were being underpaid.

That is what tomorrow's strike is all about. It is not about workers demanding more than their due or making blind pay claims. It is about honouring agreements on which the Government signed off. It is there in black and white and the Government has failed to honour the commitments into which it entered.

Despite the Taoiseach's usual efforts to portray workers and their unions as unreasonable and all the rest, these workers are not seeking enrichment; far from it. For example, a healthcare assistant enjoys an entry level salary of less than €28,000. Even with the increase due under the job evaluation scheme, a healthcare assistant will still be earning less than €30,000. Nobody is getting rich here. The demands of workers are more than modest and the strike tomorrow is going ahead not as a matter of urgency but as an option of last resort.

We understand that the HSE has asked for this money to be provided from the Department but the Government is refusing to honour that agreement. As the employer in this situation, the Government must live up to its side of the bargain and honour its word. A commitment was made to these workers four years ago and again when the job evaluations were carried out in 2017. These are low-paid workers who perform invaluable work in our health service.

We all know that this dispute will be resolved at some point in time but there will be major disruption to patients, their families and the health service if this strike goes ahead tomorrow. These workers deserve the honouring of the agreement that was entered into four years ago by the Government.

Will the Taoiseach act at this late hour and play his part in resolving the strike to ensure workers get their fair dues and ensure there is no disruption to our health service tomorrow? The way to do that is to make a reasonable offer to the unions, to re-engage with them in the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, process. That is how we can resolve this and ensure that agreements are fulfilled and lived up to. That way we can ensure there is no disruption in a health service that is already strained at the seams.

See this speech in context