Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach speaks about respect in the Dáil in order to divert attention from the blatant lack of respect shown by the Government for low paid and overworked health service workers. He speaks about photo opportunities in order to divert attention from the real experiences of those who were on the picket line this morning. I spoke to some of them and witnessed their righteous anger and frustration at the Government's approach to their dispute. On the picket line in Tallaght this morning Michelle told me about the job she did as a healthcare assistant and how different it was from the job she had started in 18 years ago. She said they now had so many responsibilities and that they did practically everything apart from giving medication. Why is that? It did not just happen by accident. It is because they are the fillers for the cracks in a health service that has suffered from chronic under-investment for decades under Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. Ian is a porter at Tallaght hospital where he has been from the very day it opened. He has been a porter since 1996. He told me that his dad was a porter and able to afford to raise a family and buy a house on the wage a porter then earned. In contrast, he is on the top tier of porter wages, gross pay of €33,000. He survives only by working 12-hour overtime shifts at the weekend. He is facing eviction from his apartment in Exchange Hall.

The story of being underpaid and overworked is very common across the health service. These are the workers who many people do not think of first when they think of those on the front line in the health service, but clearly they are essential to anything that happens. They include chefs, catering assistants, porters, healthcare assistants, technicians, laboratory assistants and so on. They are being treated disgracefully by the Government because it refuses to pay them what they are owed. The restarting of the job evaluation scheme was included in the Public Service Stability Agreement in order to get the agreement passed. The fact that the Government is trying to shirk its responsibilities under the agreement underlines how partnership was and is a process designed to bind the hands of workers and keep improvements in wages and conditions to a minimum.

All of the talk about going to the Labour Court is an absolute diversion, as the workers are well aware. The Government accepts the finding of the 2017 evaluation and that the workers are not being paid what they deserve, yet it refuses to pay them. The cost of paying them is approximately €16 million and the workers are not slow in pointing out that the Government has overseen the cost of the national children's hospital more than double to €1.7 billion and the national broadband plan treble from €1 billion to €3 billion. As there is no problem in paying any of them, what is the difference? Is it because the workers are seeking millions of euro rather than billions of euro? Should they slap on an extra zero at the end in order that the Government could find the money? Is it more likely that the reason is private companies will make a killing from those projects and that those who are on strike today are mere workers. They are low paid workers, not like the high paid judges, to whom the Government can agree to pay an increase. The workers in question get up very early in the morning and work to ensure the hospitals the Government has underfunded work as well as possible. The Government must commit to paying them today and stop trying to delay and draw out matters.

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