Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Ireland women's soccer team on its fabulous victory last night and on qualifying for the World Cup. I particularly congratulate Denise O'Sullivan from Knocknaheeny in my community. The whole country is very proud of all of them.

This is a vital motion and I thank the Labour Party for bringing it forward. What I do not want is for the Government to support it and then send it off to motion heaven where nothing will happen. The buck stops with the Minister and Government to finally look after these workers, who have been without a pay increase for 14 years.

According to the CSO, €100 worth of shopping in 2008 would now cost €115. The average rent in 2008 in Cork was €1,003. According to Daft, that is now €1,670, which is an increase of over €8,000 a year. We are talking about people paying well over €10,000 extra a year for the same standard of living today. Many of the workers who come under this motion have seen no increases in their pay. These are front-line workers. They are drugs workers, youth workers, community employment workers, mental health workers and people working with people with disabilities. These are people who are changing lives every single day. Many of them worked through the pandemic - changing roles and supporting people where we really needed them.

We see huge levels of staff burnout and staff turnover because of low pay and overwork. The treatment of community and voluntary sector workers by successive Governments has been shameful. I pay special recognition to those working in the community addiction sector who are not only facing unchanged pay. Fine Gael decimated their core funding and have still not restored it to pre-austerity levels so not alone are they not getting the pay they need, they are not getting the support they need. This Government has to recognise that and recognise these workers once and for all.

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