David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend People Before Profit on tabling this motion. I welcome the medical scientists who are in the Public Gallery. I too was on the picket line yesterday with my colleague Deputy O'Rourke at St. James's Hospital, and many of my colleagues have been on picket lines throughout the State over recent weeks. We know this is a very long-standing issue that needs to be resolved.

I read the Minister's speech very carefully - we got a copy as he was making it - but it does not really tell us anything we do not know. He said he was aware of the ongoing, important and long-standing claims for pay parity. He acknowledged this goes back to the year 2000 and that pay parity was achieved then but was broken in 2001. He said that sectoral bargaining through Building Momentum is the way to resolve this issue. He went on to say medical scientists have been given their own bargaining unit and then outlined the constraint in that process, which is a 1% pay increase that we know will not achieve the objective of pay parity. He talked about engagement in talks over recent months. In fact, as we know, it goes back more than 20 years. He said several options have been put on the table over the past while. I do not know what those options are. Have any of them gone beyond 1%? That negotiation is ongoing between the organisations. He then went on to say "the parties have accepted an invitation from the Labour Court [yesterday] for exploratory engagement". We are far beyond "exploratory engagement". We know what the issues are. We do not need more exploratory talks. We need the HSE and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to come to the table with real, practical proposals that will resolve this issue.

I do not believe medical scientists will back down, nor should they. The principle of pay parity is something I hope the Minister supports and can resolve. I agree with previous speakers, and I have listened to the Taoiseach and others from the Government speak on this issue, that they have been almost Pontius Pilate-like in washing their hands of responsibility by stating this is something the industrial relations machinery of the State alone can resolve. Of course, they are the bodies that bring people together, but the paymaster here is the Government. It has the ability to resolve this issue, as does the Minister. They need to be creative, and if sectoral bargaining is not going to be the way to achieve the 8% pay parity, which is what is needed, they will have to look at options such as career pathways and recognition of the medical scientists grade, because this is not simply a pay increase issue but one of pay parity, which is different issue from my perspective. The Minister will have to be creative.

I very much hope, as the previous speaker said, these talks are not kicking the can down the road. We need this issue resolved. We all know how fundamentally important medical scientists are to every facet of healthcare. Consultants and doctors cannot do what they do without the support of medical scientists. I ask the Minister to resolve this issue as quickly as he can.

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