Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I join others in expressing the Labour Party group's sympathy on the passing of the Cathaoirleach's sister and the Leas Cathaoirleach, Senator Paul Coghlan's mother.

I join others in recognising the industrial action by SIPTU workers that will take place on Thursday. It is important that people understand that no worker takes the withdrawal of his or her labour lightly. It is the singular most difficult decision that any worker can make. It is a particularly painful decision, which can have any number of ramifications, sometimes for years, in how a person's position in work might be treated and interactions with others in work can suffer as a consequence. Taking industrial action is a major decision. The Government has reneged on its promises to these workers. Many of our hospitals will effectively shut down on Thursday. Many Oireachtas Members will stand shoulder to shoulder with members of SIPTU on Thursday, as will I. As others have noted, it is important that the Government steps in to resolve this. It is not good enough for the Taoiseach to suggest that this is a matter for the Labour Court. The Government and the HSE are the employer, they have reneged on promises made and they should resolve the dispute immediately so that we do not end up with pickets outside hospitals.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of having a loved one under the care of people who work in hospitals will be aware of the essential services that go beyond the nursing and doctor grades furnished by people who provide meals or transport around the hospital. Hospitals cannot function without them. I very much give them my support and thank Senators Nash and Gavan for their presentation earlier with SIPTU workers.I have spoken previously about the issue of school places for children with autism on the north side of Dublin and I thought we were making progress on it. I raised it as a Commencement Matter and, in fairness to the Minister, he gave me great assurances that no child would be left without a school place in September. However, the issue is still unresolved. As the Leader knows, there were marches in Cork and Dublin last Saturday. Yesterday it was reported in The Irish Timesthat the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, is telling the Minister there are not sufficient school places in September for children with autism. This is not something that is just being said by a campaign group; the NCSE is also stating it. Can we please have a debate in the House with the Minister, whom I know is a fair minded man? We cannot have a situation where children with autism have no school places in September. The system is broken and needs to be fixed. It is now the middle of June and we are facing a situation where children will have no school to go to in September. I plead with the Leader to have this discussion with the Minister. I know he will do his best to find a solution but we are waiting and we still do not have a resolution to this very serious issue.