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

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí as an deis an rún fíorthábhachtach seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Déileálann sé le rud an-mhífhéaráilte atá ag dul ar aghaidh le blianta fada. I thank the Deputies on my right for bringing forward this very important motion. I also welcome the medical scientists who are here today and who are witnessing this discussion. I commend them on their strength and on standing up for what is right. I hope the Minister and his Government will also stand up for what is right.

As the Minister will know, the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association is the union representing 2,100 medical scientists. Something the Taoiseach said struck me yesterday during Leaders' Questions, so I will give a little background to this. Prior to this industrial action, the MLSA had just one official strike in its 61 years of existence. That was back in 1968, a year of great global upheaval. There was the Prague Spring, student protests all over the world and so on. The limited action the MLSA took that year was therefore hardly out of step with mainstream current events. The Government of the day was a Fianna Fáil one with Jack Lynch as Taoiseach, and a fair deal was reached with the union. I hope we will see a fair deal and a recognition of these workers again now.

I wish to comment on something the Taoiseach said yesterday, which was that the medical scientists should engage in the process. It is very clear the medical scientists have always been willing to engage in every single process and that they have been extremely patient and conciliatory, but they have been left with no other option. It is now more than two decades since the report of the expert group on medical laboratory technician and technologist grades. As part of that, the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health agreed to recommend pay parity between biochemists and medical scientists, but that was undone only months after it seemingly being resolved. The first public service benchmarking process ended up tying those grades to different markers, so there has been ample time to sort this and it is extremely unfair. As others have mentioned, medical scientists find themselves working in medical laboratories alongside clinical biochemists and medical laboratory aides, yet such a significant pay differential exists despite them conducting similar work. It is an incredible source of frustration to them, as it should be, that they are not getting that same wage or a higher one. I could ask the Minister how that is fair. It is completely unfair. I wonder how it was ever allowed to come to pass. Medical scientists essentially perform the same function as clinical biochemists but have completely different pay scales and are paid on average 8% less for the work they do. They also have fewer career development opportunities and less support for education and training. We know that workers are facing burnout.

One thing that has been quite interesting in the media coverage over recent days - it is found whenever there is strike action - is that everybody suddenly has come out and said we cannot do anything if we do not have these workers. That is why those workers are there. They perform an extremely important function. Those of us who, unlike an Teachta O'Rourke, did not come from this background might not know all the intricacies of the work they have been doing. It is, however, very clear from the media coverage we have heard over recent days that people from various hospitals have come out and talked about the extremely important work being done. They have been, as I said, extremely patient but they need to be listened to at this point.

It is incredibly frustrating. They have met with the Department of Health but the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has not engaged. As my colleague Deputy O'Reilly said, you need to make sure that the finances are there. There has to be action from the Government here and now. We know the extremely important work being done by the medical scientists. We need to ensure the money is there to make sure they get fair pay and equity. I urge the Minister to speak to his Cabinet colleagues and put the pressure on the Government to make sure there is fairness here. We know the incredible work that has been done. We all stood up and clapped for front-line workers during the pandemic. Now we need to follow that up with action.

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