Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá mé ag ardú ceiste ar maidin a bhaineann le aighneas eile atá ag ardú cloiginn. Baineann sé le Gaillimh go príomha i dtosach ach is ceist náisiúnta í.

I am told workers providing homelessness services in Galway have unanimously backed a campaign to secure the Labour Court's recommended hourly rate for overnight working. A Labour Court ruling in 2014 recommended that time spent on overnight or "sleepover" duty should be acknowledged as constituting working time and workers should be paid the national minimum hourly rate, which is €9.25, for this duty. IMPACT has today explained that when the union sought the payment for staff working in the Galway Simon Community, the employer stated that it was unable to pay as the HSE had not provided the funding to allow it to do so. The employer accepts that staff have a legal entitlement to the payment but the HSE is withholding the funding. This is clearly not an acceptable position.

The HSE, as we all know, pays its staff the proper rate and provides money to other funded agencies to allow them to do so. It does not make sense, therefore, to exclude the staff at the Simon Communities or in any other homelessness agency effectively providing services through the night for €4.50 per hour, which is less than half of the national minimum wage. There are 50 staff at Galway Simon Community, including housing support officers and housing support assistants. The local IMPACT representative, Mr. Pádraig Mulligan, has stated the staff are highly experienced and entered the workplace with recognised third level qualifications in social care. The employer and the HSE accept that the money is owed but nobody is prepared to release the funds. We have had much discussion about the homelessness issue but these homelessness service workers, who are very important in trying to support the people who find themselves in such a difficult position, certainly need to be supported as well. I would welcome a debate with the relevant Minister, who would be the Minister for Health because as this is a HSE funding issue. He could come to the House so we could discuss the work being provided by these homelessness services and the workers being paid only €4.50 per hour for work they are doing overnight.