Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will raise two issues. First is the issue of the section 39 workers who, along with their representative body, SIPTU, unfortunately have come to the conclusion that they have no option but to go on strike on 14 and 15 February. The Government must take this issue quite seriously. They are people employed in voluntary organisations who have service level agreements with the HSE. They are coming to the end of their tether. I remind the Government that when the Labour Party was in government, we spent a huge amount of time and energy trying to restore people's pay by bringing in legislation that has effectively helped to restore the pay of contract cleaners, security workers and people in the public service. The eye has been taken off the ball in this regard. We have industrial action from special needs assistants, SNAs, teachers who are deeply upset about the lack of pace in pay equalisation and now we have section 39 workers. Unfortunately, the Taoiseach has form in cracking down on workers' rights in some of his previous pronouncements. The supposed leader of the Independent Alliance has made scurrilous remarks about the trade union movement in the past.I hope that is not the type of rhetoric that will be used to deal with this particular issue. Nobody wants to see section 39 workers on strike. I wish the Government would deal with this issue and begin to restore their pay because they do not want to be on strike. I ask the Leader to facilitate a debate in that regard.

Second, I want to raise the issue of schools, particularly those on the north side and south side of Dublin, which are selling their lands to private developers. We have an issue in St. Paul's, Raheny, whereby the Vincentian order was handed land from Dublin City Council in the 1950s but has now sold that land to a private developer. A planning application for a huge development has been made, which will effectively destroy St. Anne's Park on the north side. We also have a situation on the south side, about which Councillor Deirdre Kingston in Dún Laoghaire has alerted me, whereby the Edmund Rice Schools Trust is asking the Minister to disband the board of management of Clonkeen College due to the latter taking a court case to prevent the selling of lands in that school.

It is about time the Minister for Education and Skills got out from behind his desk, came into this Chamber and began to discuss the reality of communities across Dublin and, I assume, across the country losing playing pitches and community facilities because religious orders are selling them off to private developers. In this quite concerning case, the trust wants to abolish the board of management that is taking this case and is asking the Minister to facilitate that. I believe the Minister has a real role in this situation. I ask the Leader to facilitate his arrival in the Chamber in order that we can stop the religious orders from selling off lands, selling out local communities and trying to abolish the boards of management of the schools that are doing such a great job both in this school and in schools nationwide.