Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. It has been 15 years since the crash. Until 2021, many of these workers had not even received a pay increase. The staffing community of voluntary organisations who are awarded the pay increase of 8% have not received it and have not been paid to date. That is outrageous. Why has it not been paid and when will it be paid? This needs to happen urgently. It undermines and makes a complete mockery of our system of industrial relations and collective bargaining. When agreements are made, they must be honoured. It must be noted that the agreement is applicable only to sections 10, 39 and 56 bodies. Projects and initiatives that have service-level agreements with the HSE are included. Those that have grant-aid agreement are not. Many other services are excluded from the agreement.

Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, who is sitting beside him, seriously consider setting up an implementation body with the unions, those involved in the different organisations and the Government to actually look at this? It is a very complicated system. The funding goes astray. The HSE and Department of Health have the funding, which is given to the HSE. The HSE gives it to the Department of Justice, the ETBs, Dublin City Council and all these areas. This has to be looked at in detail and implemented as quickly as possible for these workers and those services.

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