Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies Mairéad Farrell and O'Reilly for their contributions. Hopefully, they will be in a position to support the Bill.

I look forward to the Bill being progressed in the weeks ahead, particularly as it is needed to give effect to the Building Momentum pay agreement. The latter is a very fair agreement. It involves general pay increases in October and October of next year of 1% each or €500, whichever is greater. It also involves a new sectoral bargaining fund amounting to 1% of basic pay to resolve any outstanding issues such as those that resulted in industrial action in the period of previous agreements. That particular sectoral bargaining fund is a most important innovation because there are always legacy issues on the industrial relations front that need to be addressed.

We did not have such a fund in place all along to deal with those particular issues outside of the general round of pay increases. Work on the implementation of the fund and the identification of the sectoral bargaining units, for example, is well under way and I look forward to seeing it progress over the period ahead.

In addition to that work, as colleagues know, we now have a process in place to deal with the Haddington Road agreement hours. An independent body will set out its analysis of what would be involved in addressing the matter. The trade union movement very much sees those hours as an outstanding issue. We have provided a fund to address the recommendations that will be made as part of that process.

This Bill is needed, not just for building momentum but also for the implementation of the Sláintecare consultant contract in the health service, which is a key part of the reform of the public health system. The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and his Department will continue to work on the advancement of the new Sláintecare public-only consultant contract. The Bill is also needed, as I outlined, for the implementation of the seagoing service commitment scheme, which is a very important reform for the retention of staff in the Naval Service.

I look forward to continuing to work with colleagues on progressing the Bill. I hope it will pass Second Stage and proceed to Committee Stage. I would like to see that happening relatively quickly in order that we can get the legislation enacted as soon as possible and go about our work of implementing what is a fair, affordable and sustainable pay agreement.

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