Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that section 39 and section 56 organisations and their staff play a vital role in our healthcare and social care sectors.

Officials in the Department and the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth are waiting on the result of the ballot. Officials from both Departments remain available to re-engage with unions at any time in an effort to bring this matter to a resolution. It is also important to remember that these are private employers and, as such, the Government has no authority or ability to change the terms and conditions of these workers. I appreciate that there are many organisations with staff who have similar or equivalent roles to workers in the HSE. However, it must be noted that there are more than 1,500 organisations within the sector. As the State is not the employer, we have a limited ability to verify the position. Attempting to increase the pay of workers in this sector by 9.5% may result in further disparity. The Government has little or no information in relation to many of these organisations and the terms and conditions of their employees. I reiterate that officials are ready to engage with unions at any time to resolve this issue.

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