Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad that the protest at lunchtime today was raised. I have a particular personal interest in this because it was the first campaign I worked on as a SIPTU trade union official. It frankly beggars belief that 11 years on, successive Governments have ignored the recommendations from their own Labour Court, the highest industrial court in the country. This Government is very happy to lecture people for ignoring Labour Court recommendations.It lectured the nurses on that for months. Despite this, it has ignored this Labour Court recommendation for eight years. Before that, Fianna Fáil ignored it for three years.

Here is the thing. These people are not well-paid. When they retire, they have nothing to fall back on. Having spoken to the workers outside the gates of this building, I cannot underestimate their anger. They know, unfortunately, it is a fact that under this Government, this place is a cold house for working people and trade unions. They cannot even get a meeting with the Minister. The Minister for Finance did not even have the decency to reply or acknowledge that they have asked for a meeting after 11 years. They are absolutely right to go on strike. They have no choice. They have tried every method. They have tried everything. A high-level forum was set up under the Lansdowne Road agreement to deal with this but this Government immediately ignored the agreement and has ignored it consistently since.

The Leader is not here today but, unfortunately, when I raised this issue back in February, he said that we cannot implement the recommendation because it would have financial implications that would be disastrous for the country. This is the view from the Government that spent billions on the children's hospital, so it is nonsense. It goes to reinforce that this Government in particular has contempt for working people and trade unions. They are left outside the doors. They cannot even get an acknowledgement from the Minister on this issue. I am calling on the Government to act immediately, bring those decent people from the union, SIPTU, into this building, and treat them with respect for the first time in 11 years.