Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Earlier, at noon, I met a good colleague of mine, Eddie Mullins from SIPTU. He was in Leinster House to hand in a letter to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. I am referring to a topic that has been raised countless times in this Chamber, on all sides, which is the despicable treatment meted out to community employment, CE, supervisors in regard to their pensions and entitlements and rulings by the Labour Court that have been ignored by the Government. Looking back at the record, I see this was raised last February and last April, and I am going to raise it again today. I cannot begin to express the level of frustration and anger that union members and CE supervisors feel. Here is the level of contempt - that is the only word I can use - that the Government has for these people: it refuses to even engage in correspondence or to acknowledge getting letters requesting meetings. As I pointed out previously, and as other Members across the Chamber have pointed out, these are not well paid staff. These are staff who have given tremendous service across the country in all constituencies, and they have been completely ignored by the Government.

These recommendations go back to 2005 and 2008. The message that the Government sends to private sector employers is that it they are the subject of a Labour Court recommendation, they can ignore it because it is ignoring these recommendations. The letter refers to the high-level forum established by the previous Government under the Lansdowne Road agreement to deal with these matters. The agreement states that the high-level forum will be convened by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, involving the relevant Departments and agencies, and will meet on a quarterly basis. That is pretty straightforward, except it has not met since December 2017, almost two years ago.That shows absolute contempt for the workers and the Lansdowne Road agreement. The Department does not even have the decency to reply to letters, which is the reason a number of people hand delivered them this morning to the office of the Minister, Deputy Donohoe. I am seeking a debate on the matter.

The second issue I want to raise is the change to the retirement age from 2021, from when people will have to work until the age of 67 years. As the contracts of many will expire when they reach the age of 66 years, they will have to sign on for one year, resulting in a weekly cut in their income of €45. Is this the way we should be treating people who have worked for a lifetime in the State? It speaks to the constant theme of contempt of the Government for trade unions, working people, employment rights and so on. We need to debate this matter. It is not fair or proper that workers, on reaching the age of 66 years, should be forced to sign on for one year and take a cut of €45 per week in comparison to their pension payment. These changes have been proposed, but there has been no proper debate about them. I want to hear what Members on each side of the Chamber have to say aobut the proposed increase in the retirement age. Sinn Féin is opposed to this measure. We call on the Government to leave the retirement age at 66 years. Let us have a proper debate on to fund social services and pensions. I would welcome the opportunity to debates on both matters.