Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is correct. Táim fíor-shásta an deis seo a bheith agam faoi dheireadh. Bhí muid ceaptha an t-ábhar seo a phlé le roinnt seachtainí anuas agus táim an-sásta go bhfuil an deis agam inniu é a phlé, éisteacht leis na daoine eile a bheidh ag labhairt faoin gceist seo agus plé a dhéanamh ar an gcomhaontú agus ar an mBille. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Second Stage debate on the Public Service Pay Bill 2020. We have waited a number of weeks to speak on the Bill so it was welcome to see today that we would be speaking on it. This Bill will form the bones and the connective tissue of the new public service stability agreement. I am glad to see that members of the trade union movement have had the opportunity to vote on the Building Momentum agreement. I had raised concerns that an uncertain situation could have occurred whereby the previous agreement would have expired without a new agreement being in the offing.

I refrained from commenting directly on the Building Momentum agreement because I believed it was a matter for the union membership to decide and I did not want to be seen to be prejudicing the outcome. The results are in now.

They were resoundingly in favour. We see that in the results from the two largest unions, SIPTU and Fórsa, whose membership voted in favour by margins of 91% and 95%, respectively. Notwithstanding that, some smaller unions voted against the agreement and I want to address some of their concerns. It is worth highlighting that their rejection was partly based on legacy issues that have not yet been addressed. I will deal with some of those in a moment.

First, it is worth acknowledging that most of the unions have accepted this deal. Since the beginning of the austerity budgets 12 years ago, public sector workers have had their real earnings gutted. FEMPI, the Croke Park agreement, the Haddington Road agreement and the Lansdowne Road agreement are terms that will resound in the minds of many of those working in the public sector since the crisis that followed 2008. It is only in this past year that pay has been restored to 2008 levels. For these valuable and essential workers in our hospitals, local authorities, educational institutions, the community sector and public administration, this has been long overdue. Wages for general operatives in local authorities, attendants in hospitals and cleaners in schools start at around €25,000, rising to approximately €35,000 after ten years. These workers are the backbone of our public services. These are the workers who have taken the financial hit over the past 12 years only to see restoration arrive now.

Certain media and political commentators have spoken on this issue. The reality is that public sector workers have had more than a decade of lost earnings as a result of the economy going into receivership following the mismanagement of a Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition. We also had the austerity of the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government, of which the Tánaiste, among others, was part. Both Governments were supported at the time by Independents, who did not show independence of action or thought by standing up for these workers. These workers have had to spend their wages every week to make ends meet and have had a significant reduction in their standard of living due to the policies of austerity, which have manifested in a seemingly never-ending housing crisis, long waiting lists for routine medical procedures and creaking infrastructure. They will see their wages rise but they will never get back the wages that were lost. They have lost a decade. Public service pay has been decimated over the past 12 years.

Let us not forget that these workers and others were forced to pay for the reckless risk-taking of the banking and property sectors. We are again seeing politicians fall over themselves to pay tribute to those two sectors. Some would have us believe that this is ancient history. It could be ancient history but it is also contemporary policy. Not a day goes by that we are not reminded of the events of more than a decade ago, such as with the banks that were bailed out with taxpayers' money and had their future tax obligations waived by allowing them to carry forward their losses indefinitely using what are referred to as deferred tax assets. They are now being thanked. We see the current housing policies, which are very much in favour of the developers rather than those who cannot afford to buy a home.

These concessions, extracted by government for the restoration of pay, have delivered significant savings to the public purse, but our public sector workers are our most valuable resource. They have held the line during the pandemic and paid a high price with their health and, in some cases, with their lifeblood. They kept our system going during the pandemic. They have held the fort in our public health systems, from hospitals to nursing homes and from schools to State services. They are the lowest earners in our public system and they are the citizens of whom we have asked the most. They clean our hospitals, sweep our streets, run our laundries and administer our public services. They need more than pay restoration and they deserve more than applause. They deserve our considered gratitude and that consideration must be quantifiable. I hope to see that in the next public service stability agreement. These workers have the benefit of union negotiated terms and conditions of employment, which give them sick leave and special pandemic leave, but we should not forget the large numbers of private contractors who are being used in the public system. They do not have the same entitlement. This significant private spend must be examined and serious effort must be made to convert these private, for-profit contracts into direct hire jobs which offer safety and security to the worker and better value to the State.

I want to say a few words about the FEMPI legislation, as some may question the need for this Bill and the reason the FEMPI legislation was not fully repealed. It is worth noting that between 2015 and 2018, FEMPI and the agreements that succeeded it generated a reduction in Ireland's public pay bill of almost 20% through a combination of universal and progressive wage cuts, a pay freeze, reduced rates for new entrants, elimination of performance bonuses and certain allowances, and reduced rates of overtime and other non-core pay.

Section 2 amends section 4 of the Act to give the Minister the power to provide for an increase in remuneration save where this is set by or under an Act of the Oireachtas. This would appear to be mainly designed to vest more power in the Minister and to reduce circumstances in which legislation is required to give effect to public sector agreements. Insofar as this encourages collective bargaining at a national level, it is welcomed. One consequence of the 2017 Act, which gave a legislative entitlement to the increases in remuneration set out in the public service stability agreement, was that further legislation would have been required to take away that entitlement. The amendment to section 4 of the Act seems to be a clever way to ensure the State does not run into this difficulty in the future. Overall, it might be said that the amendment to section 4 gives considerable power to the Minister, but he probably already had such power or equivalent power under various statutory provisions or the contractual agreements of public servants. The sanction of the relevant Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, was standard practice in respect of adjustments to remuneration prior to the collapse of the public finances in 2008.

I am aware that there are still some lingering issues, such as pay equality, and that the sectoral bargaining fund that has been established will be used to address some of these issues. In agreement with sectoral management, each union or bargaining unit will have the option to use some or all of the sectoral fund to address issues mentioned, but certain claims are excluded as these are decided centrally, including overtime, weekly hours of attendance, annual and sick leave entitlements and pension arrangements. Alternatively, the union or bargaining unit can elect for the funds involved to be used as a sectoral pay round. If they choose to do this, the unions encompassed by that sectoral bargaining unit can agree that they may not pursue any grade or pay-related pay agreements.

I am aware that, despite all of this, some unions such as ASTI and the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association have rejected the agreement. Sinn Féin's alternative budget called for the immediate pay equalisation of pre and post-2011 public sector entrants, as we see equal work for equal pay as being absolutely central. Under a Sinn Féin Government, we would seek to address these issues. We would also ensure a living wage for all public sector entrants. Sin mo thuairim ar an méid atá á phlé againn inniu. Bhí ról lárnach ag na daoine seo agus na hoibrithe seo agus tá sé fíorthábhachtach go dtugann muid chuile chabhair a theastaíonn uathu dóibh.

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