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

I thank the Deputies for their diverse range of questions. I will do my best to answer as many as I can. I associate myself with Deputy Dillon's remarks regarding the funding announced today for Daisy Lodge in Cong, County Mayo, to develop a respite care centre for children with cancer and their families. Cong is a particularly beautiful part of Mayo. It should not be forgotten that it crosses into County Galway in parts. We are very pleased we are able to provide that funding. Many people behind that centre do a fabulous job. It will now have a stronger cross-Border aspect to it than was the case previously.

On section 39 bodies, as we all know, section 39 organisations do very valuable work, which includes hospices, many disability services and some smaller bodies and charities. Some receive most of their funding from the State and some do not. Some receive very large amounts of funding while others do not. They are not all the same and the staff in them are not public servants. The State is not their employer. They do not form part of the single pension scheme for the State and do not pay the public service levy. Their pay scales and pensions are different and are not aligned with the HSE. Sometimes they are better and sometimes worse. As I know from working through the process of turning the section 39 hospices into section 38 hospices, it can be a very complicated process to do and throws up all sorts of anomalies. People think they will be better off under the HSE and as a section 38. That might be true for most people most of the time but it is not true across the board. It involves making a higher pension contribution to become part of the State pension scheme. In some cases, though not all and not the majority, terms and conditions are more favourable in section 39s than the State-----

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