Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see the Minister of State. He is very welcome. I welcome the Bill on behalf of Sinn Féin. It was very hard fought for. The negotiations by the trade union movement were intense and, at stages, looked like they would not be successful. Thankfully, they were successful in the sense that enough was delivered for the trade unions to go back to their members. I pay tribute in particular to the leadership of the major unions and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions for negotiating a skilful agreement.

There are a couple of aspects of the Bill that are worth highlighting. The first is that the pay increases are not ideal but the fact it is set out in such a progressive manner, with the lowest paid benefitting most, is significant. That was very important in terms of carrying the agreement through. We often forget that the salaries of many public servants start at approximately €25,000 and, after ten years, get to €35,0000. I refer to operatives in local authorities, healthcare attendants in hospitals and cleaners in schools. They are the real backbone of the public service. Those people are not well paid. The fact that the Bill has a progressive element in terms of that pay rise was crucial.

The second important part is the sectoral bargaining element, which is significant. It, too, was very skilfully negotiated. There is a host of issues that have been building up in the health service in particular over the past ten years. They have been ten very difficult years for public servants. The Bill should give them the ability to sign off on agreements and actually recognise pay awards that should have been made in that time. It is really important that those awards are implemented and that the process is not dragged out in terms of not delivering particular reforms because it is really important that the Government does not take public servants for granted. This pay increase is not particularly significant but it is progressive and there are other elements of the Bill, particularly the sectoral bargaining element, that are very important. However, it is crucially important that they are implemented.

The other aspect of the Bill I wish to recognise is the continuing protection against outsourcing. That is vital because, unfortunately, the track record shows that both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil like to outsource. They like to take things that belong to the people and hive them off to the private sector, so it is crucial to have that provision as a bulwark of protection, again negotiated by the trade union movement.

The Bill is significant in terms of pay equality. That was well fought for by the teachers' unions in particular to bring about the restoration of pay equality for new entrants to teaching. That had been more than upsetting for members of the teaching profession so it is a very welcome development in the deal. It is important to put on the record that we expect further and significant recognition of public servants, the people who have been keeping the country going to a large degree, particularly the front-line workers in the public service, when this particular deal concludes at the end of 2022.

While we are speaking about agreements and dealing with trade unions, it is important to raise a couple of related issues. The first, which has already been raised, is the ongoing failure to really deal with the issue of the Defence Forces and to recognise there is a fundamental wrong in terms of not allowing its members to have proper trade union recognition.I ask that the Minister of State address that in his response. It has gone on for too long. There is no reason it should not be dealt with in a way that is fair and progressive. As Senator Craughwell outlined, it is clear that not enough has been done for those workers. Equally, the issue of student nurses has not been dealt with satisfactorily. It is something that is in the Minister of State's power to address and I hope he will do that.

Above all, it is very important the Government addresses the elephant in the room when it comes to trade unions, namely, the ongoing refusal to support the right to collective bargaining for workers in this country. It was more than disappointing to see the Tánaiste write to the European Commission asking it not to make binding the directive on minimum wages. That directive would have had a key knock-on element of increasing the scope of collective bargaining here and committing the Government to see that happening, yet the Government has gone out of its way to align itself with some of the most right-wing governments in Europe to ask the Commission not to make the directive binding. We do not want to have to do that. We have not heard an explanation for that. Maybe the Minister of State might give it us in his response. Members of my union, SIPTU, and across the Irish Congress of Trade Unions are more than disappointed by this stance. If we believe in the value of workers, of front-line workers in particular, how can we not grant them the right to collective bargaining? How can we continue to be one of the outliers in the European Union in not granting that right? It is a key issue that needs to be addressed.

Otherwise, we welcome this Bill. I pay tribute to the trade union movement in particular and look forward to the Minister of State's response.