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

I pay tribute to the medical scientists in the Public Gallery and the thousands of medical scientists who are not in the Gallery but back at work again on the front line. It is interesting that our motion and the Government's countermotion refer to the medical scientists as the "hidden heroes" of the health service. No matter what happens, after the vote tonight, the Dáil will officially recognise these workers as hidden heroes. This is what they are, as was demonstrated, above all, during Covid-19. Yesterday, workers in Tallaght hospital told me that during Covid some of them had to work for 14 and 15 days without a day off. That causes incredible pressure and stress. These workers suffer from pay inequality and burnout because a number of positions remain unfilled. They also suffer as a result of a lack of clear and appropriate career progression for the vast majority. While I am sure these workers will welcome being described as hidden heroes officially by the Dáil, I am also sure that, like clapping for the health service generally, they would like this type of rhetorical commitment to be matched by an actual commitment to pay them for the work they do and treat them equally with their colleagues, the biochemists, who do very similar work. This is what they and we want to see.

Obviously, there have been many changes since we announced our plans to introduce the motion. The MLSA and HSE are now in the Labour Court with the strike has been called off for the time being. We hope the political pressure from the strike and from Opposition parties, including People Before Profit, has helped the workers. We hope the motion has also helped them. We intend to keep up the pressure to ensure these workers get the pay equality they deserve. Too often, however, and this has been the experience of the medical scientists again and again, workers have been promised something only for those promises to be forgotten. In this case, the workers were promised talks. The workers are engaging in that very genuinely, but there is a need to keep up the pressure. It is only action and pressure that have brought us this far. It is crucial that we keep up the pressure until the point that pay parity is achieved, and we commit to doing so.

In participating in debates during Leaders' Questions last week and listening to Leaders' Questions again yesterday, as I presume I will do again today, I have been frustrated by the fact that the Government speaks about this as if it was someone else's fault. I presume we will also get this from the Minister today. We will hear words of sympathy and he will speak of "hidden heroes" and so on but that somehow this is someone else's fault and it is not within the Government's gift to resolve this matter right now with a relatively small amount of money and to say these workers deserve pay equality. When we look at the history of this, that is evidently clear. Back in 1997, the then Labour Relations Commission recommended the establishment of an expert group for medical laboratory technicians and technologists as part of a set of proposals to settle their pay claims. The expert group recognised the increasingly scientific and clinical role of the profession and the increased educational requirements for the role. The continuous professional development required for medical scientists came across again when speaking to the workers. The expert group recommended restructuring the profession of medical scientists based on an existing grade in laboratories, namely, that of clinical biochemist. Clinical biochemists work in one section of the laboratory. They provide a service interacting with clinical pathways and furthering scientific influence on patient care. The vision for laboratory medicine was to extend that to all sections.

In 2001, the then Minister for Health and Children, the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, received the expert group report proposing pay parity for the medical scientists. It was a promise made to these workers 21 years ago but 21 years on these workers are still paid 8% less, on average, than biochemists. The medical scientists have fulfilled their end of the bargain. They have done everything the report suggested. The HSE and successive Ministers for Health have broken their promises. There can be no more kicking the can down the road. There can be no more washing their hands of the issue. The then Minister for Health is now the Taoiseach. The Government should simply pledge that it will provide the funding for pay parity so this wrong can be righted.

Let us look at the impact of the years of austerity and the damaging public sector agreements on the medical scientist workforce, as well as the impact in terms of the public sector testing capacity. Speaking yesterday, some of the workers said they thought there are currently 25 vacant positions in the Mater Hospital. That is incredible. Across the country, one in five positions is unfilled. That means extra pressure on those in work. Services have reached a level where staffing is no longer sustainable. There is not the throughput to replace those positions, in terms of the number of people who are coming through the three college courses. Then we have a situation of pay inequality. Workers say to me that they want to work, they want to contribute to the public health service but if they want to get better pay, there are jobs they can move to in private industry. These workers would like to contribute to the public health service, but they also have to pay the bills. They have to try to move out of home. They have to try to pay rent and groceries in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, yet medical scientists continue to be paid at least 8% less than promised when the recommendations of the expert group were agreed. All medical scientists ask is to be paid the same as other scientists carrying out identical work side by side with them.

An interesting point emerged yesterday when I was speaking to the workers. It is very clear when on the picket line that it is an overwhelmingly feminised workforce, with about 80% women. Is it an accident that the group of workers to whom they do identical work but are paid 8% less is a workforce that is 50:50 men and women or slightly more men? It raises the question again of the undervaluing of the work of women, which is a consistent feature right across society in terms of care work generally being undervalued and underpaid and a predominantly feminised profession.

Medical scientists were put in an impossible situation. None of them wanted to withdraw their services but they were faced with a situation where again and again the can has been kicked down the road and they had no choice but to engage in action. A sign of their resolve is that 98% of members voted for industrial action, their first since 1969. They deferred it in order to accept an invitation to talks but again satisfactory progress was not achieved and industrial action began and got us to this point.

The Government's counteraction says a lot about the Government. The MLSA has been seeking a breakdown of the numbers of medical scientists' grades for 18 months, but it took this Dáil motion from People Before Profit finally to get the figures from the Government. The total number of medical scientists remains virtually unchanged since 2011 when the core working day was increased. It goes from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., which is longer than most other grades. Since then, the workload and complexity of work has increased exponentially but, again, the workforce has remained stagnant.

In the amendment, the Government talks about the review by Dr. Colm Henry, but the MLSA was told in March 2021 that the report would be done within three or six months. The working group was only formed in February 2022 with no representatives of the MLSA. The Government cannot be allowed to use such reviews to kick the can down the road or to dodge political responsibility. The workers are very determined. They have very broad public support. They have our unstinting support. I encourage the Government to act to settle this dispute to grant pay equality.

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