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

The truth does hurt. The truth and hurt this afternoon are that 10,000 support staff in the health service are on strike at 38 hospitals and facilities across the State. They are engaged in industrial action because of the failures of the Government. This is a mess entirely of its making and that truth, I hope, rings home at some level with the Taoiseach.

I took the opportunity this morning to speak with workers at Beaumont, the Mater and the Rotunda hospitals. I spoke with them to extend the solidarity of Sinn Féin and the considerable public support they enjoy for their just cause. I hope this is the only morning I will have to do the rounds of hospitals, and that staff are forced onto the picket line.

The strike has been a long time coming. The Taoiseach has known since 2015, when the job evaluation scheme was resumed and agreed, that there was a need to pay workers fairly and that this liability was going to arise at some stage, yet he made precisely no effort and no plan was put in place to pay the staff involved what they are due. The Taoiseach should know that none of the workers wants to be out on strike. The people to whom I spoke are healthcare assistants, maternity care assistants, porters, catering staff and chefs. They want to do what they do best; they want to be at work, caring for and supporting patients. They are upset and offended because they believe their work is being disrespected and that somehow the Government regards them as menial staff, carrying out menial and unimportant roles. It is important to say that the health service simply cannot function without these workers, and patients cannot be cared for in the way they must be.

They feel they have been let down and believe that their work is undervalued. They are correct in that analysis. The job evaluation scheme also chimes with their analysis because it found that workers are being underpaid for the skills level they bring to their jobs and for the duties they carry out. Dr. Paud O'Regan, a consultant at South Tipperary General Hospital, said this morning that the industrial action is having a major and almost catastrophic effect on services. I can only imagine what the consequences will be for workers and patients if the Government drives this dispute to further industrial action next week. Despite the Taoiseach's effort to portray workers and their union as unreasonable, that is not the case. It should be borne in mind that the HSE accepted the finding of the job evaluation and requested the money necessary to pay these workers what they deserve but the Government has refused to live up to its side of the bargain. The Taoiseach has broken his word and now we have a messy and unnecessary strike.

The workers trusted in the process but the Taoiseach has done nothing. He made a derisory, non-offer to the workers last week which was, of course, rejected and here we are. I ask the Taoiseach to act now, keep his word and end this messy and unnecessary industrial action by simply sticking to those things that he has agreed.

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