Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The offer from the Government was designed to fail. It was nowhere near what was needed to resolve the pay parity and pay justice issue. Even management in section 39 organisations has been saying that. On the back of what we are seeing with St. Michael's House, which is a section 38 organisation, with young adults coming out of the school service and having no service available, where does the responsibility for that service go? The section 39 organisations are being asked to meet that requirement. These section 39 workers, as well as the section 56 workers and others outside of that in drug and alcohol services, are shouldering the burden. I am thinking of Prosper Fingal in my constituency, which is unable to meet the demographic pressures of operating in such a young, fast-growing constituency such as Dublin Fingal. Never mind the organisation being able to grow its service, it is struggling to sustain it. The Government's offer was designed to fail. No leadership is being shown here. We, the trade unions and the workers believe there is no real desire on the part of the Government to solve this issue, despite the healthy state of the State’s finances.

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