Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Last week I referred to the urgent need for the Government to agree a start date for talks on a successor to the Lansdowne Road agreement. We have since had the statement from the Taoiseach clinging to the fantasy that the agreement can continue to run for another two years. There have been hints of something different, but the Government seems oblivious to the anger and hurt among public service workers. To shed some light on the topic, I mention the plight of National Ambulance Service staff. I am sure everyone here will agree that they do extremely important work which they do very well. Here is a quote from one of them:

I'm an EMT, and my pay is so bad I have to sometimes take emergency annual leave as I can't afford diesel for my car to get to work - I work an hour from home.

I have also had to wait until 12 midnight at a petrol station for my wages to go into my bank, so I have enough to pay for diesel to get home. I only get to do a week's shopping once a fortnight as I can't afford to do it every week. I don't know how much more my family and I can take.

This is a second quote:

My girlfriend and I are really struggling; we have a baby on the way. The HSE have decided to station me a few hundred kilometres away from home, meaning we have to pay rent at home and where I am stationed. It's getting to the point where I'll be doing what colleagues are already doing; I'll be sleeping in my car. There is no rent allowance to assist staff who are based away from home. It's bad enough that I have to be away from my partner but for the salary and the stress we are under it's just horrific and there is nowhere to turn. I could be years away from a transfer. Isn't having kids, buying a home and getting married supposed to be a recipe for a happy life? We simply can't afford to do any of those things ... I am now looking for alternative work in my home town.

The people concerned cannot wait for another two years. We need the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to come to the House as a matter of urgency to debate the issue of public sector pay. I do not think the Government understands the anger and hurt felt. We need it to stop dilly-dallying and prevaricating and instead to give us a date for the commencement of these important talks.

I congratulate the ICTU on lodging a claim for a 4% pay rise in the private sector. It is high time ordinary workers got a slice of the so-called recovery.