Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

How can that be followed? I have two things to raise this morning. One is that we hear constantly that the HSE is looking for people to work in the area of tracing. An entire army of veterans is available who are only too keen to come back to drive people to medical appointments, do tracing work and anything asked of them. Several of the veterans' organisations around the country are already doing things like shopping for older and vulnerable people using their own cars and paying their own costs. What are we offering them to come back and do something? We are offering them pension abatement. If they come back, we will take their pensions from them. We did not do that to consultants, doctors or other senior people who came back into the service. A private soldier on a pension of a few bob a week, however, will have that taken from him or her if he or she comes back to serve the State. That is wrong.

The second thing I will talk about this morning is gender pay and equality. I am tired of this situation arising. I have eight sisters, a wife, a daughter, a daughter-in-law and two granddaughters. I think my two granddaughters will probably reach my age before we see pay equality in this country. We are in the Houses of Parliament and we can solve this problem in the morning. Pay equality is in the public sector, so why the hell is it not law and why do we not make it law? By the way, the way we treat our women in politics is absolutely despicable. If a woman in this House has a baby today and she is needed for a vote tomorrow, she will have to come in. That is just wrong in every sense of the word.

Instead of all the hot air we hear about equality, let us actually do something about it. Let us bring in legislation that will force all organisations to pay equal pay. Senator Bacik spoke yesterday about the issue of equal pay affecting some of the highest paid women in this country. They are still 14% behind the men they work opposite, their peers and equals. It is wrong in every sense of the word and we should take responsibility for it.