Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's response but I want to pin him down a little more in respect of what he said about joint labour committees. He stated that work is progressing, but it would be useful if we had more definitive timelines and if we knew what the expectations are for a successful outcome to that such that it can be guaranteed that there will be an improvement in the pay and conditions at the end of the process. The Minister told us that he and his Department are not the employer, but he is very mindful that the sustainability of the sector is in question because, even though there is increased demand for workers within the sector, that is not being met with increased rates of pay to reflect that demand. We would like to hear from the Minister a more definitive timeline and a sense of what his expectations are. There is a commitment in the programme for Government, as he noted. We would like to know when he expects that commitment to be delivered on.

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