Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to see the Minister. He is very welcome. The Bill is an important one and Sinn Féin will be supporting it. Like other speakers, I acknowledge the amazing work done by all the Oireachtas staff here every day, much of which goes unheard and unseen. Staff put in tremendous hours and their dedication and patience with us is incredible at times. It is very important we secure funding to ensure the Oireachtas continues to run smoothly. That is especially the case when we consider the tremendously challenging times we have been through in recent years and the changes and challenges that have been met admirably by the Oireachtas staff.

I very much welcome that but, to be honest, I have a concern regarding our secretarial staff, because the process to which the Minister has referred has not been working. The reason it has not been working is because the HR department here was not given a mandate to negotiate a decent pay rise and a decent improvement in conditions for secretarial staff. We know that is a fact because we know the offer that was made under the Minister's watch earlier this year was nothing short of derisory. I am sorry to be blunt with him, but that is the fact of the matter. Offering 3% to staff who are paid €11.75 an hour was nothing less than an insult.

I have a little bit of insight into negotiations as I am a union official by trade. I know how these things work. I pay tribute to the Minister because he nails it in his speech. He makes it very clear, "Salaries, pensions and allowances are determined by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform". It is there in black and white. He goes on to say, "the commission must obtain the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of the day before reaching an agreement with any person on rates of pay, conditions of employment or superannuation rights". In the words of the Minister, the buck stops with him.

I am nervous because, after we sign off on the Bill, my worry is that when my colleagues from my union, SIPTU, go back into those talks in January, they are going to be met again with the message that those involved do not have the means to negotiate more. In that regard, I will ask the Minister a simple question. Has he factored in a significant increase for our secretarial assistant staff into the figure of €462.505 million? Has he factored in the key requests they have made, not just in terms of pay but in terms of regrading the position of secretarial assistant? As I stated in the debate on the previous day, it is a complete misnomer. What an entirely inappropriate title for the amazing work these staff do. Has the Minister factored that money in? Otherwise, my concern is my union colleagues will be met with a message that the funding is not there. Let us be clear: we need to move dramatically beyond the derisory offer that was made earlier this year. That is not going to cut it.

I acknowledge the Minister has said some very positive things but my concern is there is an ideology within the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, not personally on the part of the Minister, that I came across in my time as a union official, which is to give as little as possible almost all the time. My concern is for our secretarial assistants, who have been abandoned for years. Let us not forget that this process has been ongoing since 2018. In a process of three and a half years, what has been delivered so far is the most derisory of offers for the secretarial assistants.