Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will make a brief reference to the success of the Irish team last night in getting into the World Cup. That success was built on a level of trade unionism that stood with those women five years ago when they threatened strike action. That is what the trade union movement does. When it sees injustice in the workplace or anywhere else, it stands beside those affected and seeks to platform that injustice. It is on the shoulders of SIPTU that the Irish team is heading to the World Cup next year. That needs to be acknowledged. I acknowledge the other trade unions represented here this morning as we speak to our motion. The Minister has acknowledged our motion and thanked us for it. We get one motion every six weeks. That is how important the issue of section 39, section 56 and section 10 workers is to us as a party.

I will speak a little bit about the drugs area. With regard to addiction and those working in addiction services, despite hiding behind a promised citizens' assembly on drugs, this Government has been the most absent and uninterested I have ever known when it comes to the drugs crisis. Something was said at the SIPTU briefing yesterday that I thought was very interesting. Section 39 workers do not want to be public servants because those people whom they work with do not trust the State.

If someone is in addiction and powering their way through that scenario, if they find themselves down an alleyway injecting something into themselves or if they find themselves stained and soiled because of the disconnection in their life and the various troubles or difficulties they have had, the last person they are going to engage with is somebody from the State. We need these section 39 workers and agencies. What they are saying to us is that many of the projects they currently have are threatened. It is hard to get people to maintain their work within this sector. It is hard to attract people into the sector. In an environment where drug-taking and the manner of addiction changes all the time, it is hard to start new initiatives because they do not have the security. That security has to come from the Minister and, I would suggest, from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, whose absence this morning is a disappointment to us in the Labour Party. He is the person with control of the purse strings.

It is often said to us that the Labour Party is trying to nationalise these services or wants all these workers to be public servants. That is not the case. However, we want them to be treated with the same terms and conditions as public servants, including those working with the HSE. It has been said that the HSE is sometimes like an oil tanker and those working in these section 39 organisations are much more nimble and can adapt to situations more quickly. The fundamental issue here is that these workers are not just changing lives; they are saving lives. It undermines the work they do when they are treated so unfairly and not treated with the same basic respect as other workers. How do you attract somebody into the service? How do you change the way of interacting with people who are so in need of a helping hand and of care and compassion? That is something they have never felt from the State because in their lives, the State has at every juncture treated them with a lack of respect. That can come from the school system, the courts system, the Garda or social workers. We all may find this hard to accept but it can come from politicians. That is the day-to-day reality these people are working with. Let us dispense with this myth that we are trying to fundamentally change the structure of these organisations. What we are trying to do is provide that helping hand that shows respect to people who find themselves in addiction and are trying to power their way through this heroic path to a new future. The person helping those people should also be dealt with with respect because respect goes so many different ways. Those are the main points the Labour Party is trying to make.

There are question marks over this €100 million figure that keeps being bandied around the place. It was mentioned on Thursday by the Tánaiste and yesterday by the Taoiseach. It was mentioned by the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality, Integration and Youth during last night's debate on disability, which was brought forward by my colleagues in Sinn Féin, and it was again referenced by the Minister for Health today. That is a cost-of-living €100 million. That is a "keep the lights on" €100 million. It is not to be confused with what these workers are seeking. The Government needs to be an awful lot clearer as to what the proposals are for pay parity and basic respect for workers in these sectors. The Labour Party says to those section 39 workers, section 56 workers and section 10 workers that we value what they are doing. We only get time to propose motions once every six weeks. This is how important this issue is to us and we need it to be important to the Minister as well. We thank the trade union movement for its ongoing campaigns. If it was not for these workers, more lives would be lost and that would be on us.

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