Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise with the Minister for Health the issue of contract cleaners across the State but especially in hospitals. Many of these cleaners work as front-line workers in hospitals and care facilities in the battle against Covid-19 and they were expecting a 40 cent pay rise at the beginning of March, which would have brought their hourly rate of pay to just €11.20 per hour. According to SIPTU, which represents these workers, contract cleaning companies have reneged on this pay rise, which had previously been agreed on proposal. The decision to withhold this pay rise beggars belief. Contract cleaners who are putting their lives on the line while working in our hospitals are paid just €10.80 per hour. One of these workers has already lost his life due to Covid-19. Hundreds more are affected. SIPTU negotiated the 40 cent increase in good faith with employers. I understand that the Irish Contract Cleaning Association is now refusing to implement this pay increase. The Irish Contract Cleaning Association, which represents all the big cleaning companies in the State, needs to immediately honour the 40 cent per hour increase, backdated to March, and to apologise to those employees. The issue again highlights what happens when good public jobs are privatised. Cleaners employed directly by hospitals are paid at least €3.20 per hour more than those employed by private cleaning companies who also have no pension or sick pay entitlements.

I have spoken recently with a worker in University Hospital Limerick who told me that she worked 37 hours overtime last week at double pay, and yet the hospital does not hire staff. That 37 hours at double pay would hire two staff members. I put it to the Minister, but perhaps it is a question for the next Government, that there needs to be a major review of those privatised services when we come out of this Covid-19 emergency, with the aim of bringing them back under direct hospital contracts that would be better for workers and cheaper for taxpayers.

I have two questions for the Minister on separate issues. The trolley crisis at University Hospital Limerick, which I raised constantly with the Minister in the last Dáil, is coming back again. There are 29 people waiting on trolleys there today. What will the Minister do specifically about those people on trolleys? How will they practise physical distancing while they are waiting? In response to a parliamentary question tabled by my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, on the issue of private hospitals, the Ministers said that Bon Secours Hospital Limerick, which is located at the old Barrington's Hospital site, had only 1% utilisation under the plan agreed with private hospitals. Will the Minister explain the reasons for that?

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