Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I worked in the community and voluntary sector. This has been going on for way too long. I started working in the community and voluntary sector in 2003. Since then, we have been talking about the same thing that we are discussing now. The Minister stated that those involved are not public servants, but they serve the public so we are splitting hairs. There has been an abdication of responsibility on the part of successive Governments along the way when it comes to taking any kind of responsibility. On one hand, we say we appreciate the work they do but, on the other, no Government, certainly none since I returned to this country, has appreciated the work done by these workers.

We talk about the independent status of the organisations. Again, this is just a way of abdicating any responsibility for it. It has to stop. I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It has to stop here and now. Some 83,000 people are affected by this. We met them. Deputy Ó Snodaigh brought in a group of community employment supervisors a couple of weeks ago. They had received no pay rise for 14 years. We know who was hit the hardest when austerity arrived. Wider society has been negatively impacted by that.

I ask the Minister to give a commitment that a standing forum will be established, along with a mechanism for collective bargaining on pay and conditions with recognised trade unions. That would solve the problem. We say that the problem is too complex. We have just dealt with a pandemic. We can deal with this. This needs to be dealt with. We are avoiding the inevitable issue - that these workers must be appreciated and have to have a framework. They must have automatic salary increases. They cannot be going cap in hand every year asking "Please can I have some more?" Fourteen years without a pay rise speaks to exactly how much we appreciate the work these people do. They do it right across Mayo and all other counties. They permeate every part of our community and homes in some cases. It has to stop and it is within the power of the Minister and the Government to stop it.

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