Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for tabling the motion and commend the MLSA executive and officials on the leadership they have shown. We had some of the team in the audiovisual room last Tuesday, before the first day of strike action. Most of all, I commend medical scientists from right around the country on the resolve they have shown. Others have talked about the fundamental issues at play here, including pay parity, the 20-year claim and the expert review. The present Taoiseach was the Minister responsible at the time. Others have pointed to the addition of insult to injury among laboratory aides. I do not think there is a medical scientist in the country who would deny laboratory aides the wage they get. It is a recognition of the valuable contribution they make. It is, however, a further indication of the contradiction within the system that the people to whom they are answerable get paid less than them.

I welcome the fact there is an engagement at the Labour Court but, as my colleagues have said, it must be a meaningful one and must come with an understanding of the issues and a willingness and an ability to find solutions. I implore the Minister to engage with the Minister, Deputy McGrath, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to find those solutions and to be creative. There is huge opportunity to be creative here and it needs to extend beyond 1%.

I will touch on two major issues. I worked as a medical scientist and, looking now from the outside in, I wish to reflect on my experience of that profession and to touch on two issues: dedication and excellence.

Many Members have talked about dedication. This is a 24-7, 365-day service, including Christmas Day, New Year's Day and bank holidays, whether 3 o'clock in the morning or 3 o'clock in the evening, and harsh winters, including those of 2013 and 2017. Some colleagues mentioned staff working 15 days straight during Covid. At times, including during Storm Ophelia, medical scientists have not left the building for up to a week without thinking twice about it, such is their level of dedication. It is mainly women who do this work, including during Covid. Where was the support for childcare at that time? It was not there. That was another example. When I started work as a medical scientist, some of my colleagues had lived with the marriage bar. I think it is no coincidence we are in this position with a profession dominated by women.

I wish to touch on the issue of excellence. We do not see it in very many places. In medical science there is a culture of excellence driven by the staff's dedication and commitment, which has not been for reward, because the Government has introduced a glass ceiling for them. As colleagues have said, they are an essential part of practically every clinical decision. They have degrees, including masters degrees. Some have multiple masters degrees, PhDs, FRCPaths and MRCPaths. The internal journal is called Converse. I remember reading an article in it about colleagues who had done MRCPaths and PhDs and who talked about their experience. They obtained those qualifications for personal development and to contribute to and to improve the profession, not for personal gain, because the Government has introduced a glass ceiling. There is huge opportunity there in respect of advance practice if the Government has the creativity to realise that opportunity.

This is pioneering science, not off-the-shelf stuff. In many cases staff build these assays from the ground up. We have seen during Covid-19, in practically every lab, staff do their own basic science, pure science, building the assays, including the most high-tech of molecular science, from the ground up. These are fully accredited laboratories. It was the Joint Commission when I started; now it is INAB 15189. There is an obligation on transfusion labs. The other labs do it because they want to maintain the highest standards. The recruitment and retention crisis the Government has created is putting those standards under pressure. There is a spectacular opportunity here. These are the best of public services. We should be putting them up in lights and rewarding them, and that is what the Minister needs to do.

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