Gerald Nash (Labour) | Oireachtas source

We should have that debate. The Labour Party will propose a motion in the Dáil later this evening regarding additional supports for carers. I hope that the House will unite behind that proposal, which includes many of the propositions outlined in Senator Conway-Walsh's contribution.

The spin that we have seen over the last couple days in particular from Fine Gael on today's hospital workers strike has been remarkable. There has been a common thread and a common pattern running through the contributions of Fine Gael backbenchers over the last couple of days and a succession of Fine Gael cannon fodder has been marched through the doors of various television and radio studios over the last two or three days, claiming that the strike is SIPTU's fault and that, to use the word referenced by the Minister for Health yesterday, it is "extraordinary" that the dispute has not been referred to the Labour Court and that health workers across the country are having their pay restored. These kinds of phrases display a remarkable ignorance of what this particular health dispute is about. Fine Gael is deliberately muddying the waters in this regard. This is not about pay restoration. Rather, it is about the implementation of a solemn deal and a job evaluation review process that was carried out in the context of the existing public sector pay agreement and within the architecture of successive public sector pay agreements. This is essentially about ensuring that our health care assistants, porters, chefs and other critical support staff grades across our hospital service are given just reward for the work they do. Their roles were independently and objectively assessed by experts in this field. A deal was done with the Department of Health and the HSE and now the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, is withholding the moneys that are legitimately owed to those health care staff. It is pathetic that Fine Gael has chosen to pick a fight with the lowest paid workers in our health service in order to re-establish its damaged reputation in terms of its management of the public finances. It is telling. This morning, I spent some time on the picket line at Louth County Hospital in Dundalk and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, supporting the stance that low paid health workers have been forced to take in a bid to have their rights vindicated. This is a classic upstairs-downstairs type scenario.

There is another upstairs-downstairs type scenario of which I was made aware yesterday. I do not necessarily want to identify the individual, but I know that she is happy for me to do so. A colleague of mine, a newly elected councillor in Drogheda, Councillor Michelle Hall, who represents the Drogheda rural electorate, works as a special needs assistant in Aston Village Educate Together school in Drogheda. She has learned through the school, her union and the Department of Education and Skills that unlike teachers she is not entitled to ten unpaid leave days to attend to her public duties. This is unfair and discriminatory. Fine Gael believes that only doctors and nurses are important in the context of the health service and it likewise believes that only principals and teachers matter in the context of the education system. This is unfair and discriminatory and it needs to be corrected. The Minister needs to respond to this issue immediately.