Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Section 39 bodies and agencies are a very diverse group. They range from very big healthcare providers, hospices or disability service providers to some very small charitable groups with only a small number of employees. It is a complicated area. I think both the Deputy and Ministers across Cabinet would agree that in the real world, if the HSE is increasing its salaries, then healthcare and disability service providers that are section 39 organisations have to do the same or they will lose staff. That would apply in hospices as well. It is something we are going to examine. It would make sense to increase the block grant to take account of the fact that a public sector pay deal has just been done, which section 39 organisations will effectively have to pay. The difficulty we have as a Government is that we can increase the block grant but we have no guarantee that it will be passed on to staff.

See this speech in context