Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have consistently stated that the Government's commitment to the sustainability and stability of the health and social care sectors, recognising the ability of the voluntary organisations to pay their staff, is highly dependent on State funding. That is critical. I have totally recognised that and, along with everybody else here in the House, I have advocated for it. As the Deputy totally understands, we had to engage in a process. The process may have been a bit late in starting and it may have taken a little bit too long but we got there in the end. I thank the Ministers, Deputies O'Gorman, Stephen Donnelly and Donohoe, for the role they played in allowing us to bring out an envelope to engage in that process. In doing that with the support of the three party leaders, they also ensured that we addressed the provision in Building Momentum that stated we would commence a process to consider appropriate further funding increases having regard to the Building Momentum agreement and any successor public pay agreement. That is the kernel of the matter. We must prevent any further expansion of gaps and keep conditions aligned so that there is equal pay for equal work because all of these people are doing the work of caring for persons with disabilities, whether in voluntary bodies under section 38 and section 39 or in the HSE, and I see their work as equal. As I said last week on the floor of the Dáil, to me, equity means equity for the workers as well as equity for the service users.

See this speech in context