Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I extend a warm welcome to Ms Cara Hunter MLA and Dr. James Wilson. It is great to see them here today. There is a strike happening today on behalf of the Irish Wheelchair Association in 50 centres throughout the State. The workers are personal assistants who carry out very important work in terms of personal care, hygiene and the social outlets they create for their clients. As one client says in a video on the SIPTU website, if it was not for this person they would not get out of their house. That is too often the case. They create an incredibly valuable contribution to the quality of life of people with disabilities.

The Government response to the strike today is to the effect that the Irish Wheelchair Association is a private company and the Government does not get involved with setting rates of pay. The Irish Wheelchair Association has made it very clear it fully sympathises with its workers on strike today and states that it needs an increase in the HSE grant. A Chathaoirligh, if you want to know why the Government is so unpopular, it is because of glib statements like its response I mentioned. These workers have not had a pay rise in 14 years and are now in the midst of the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. The Government's response is there is nothing to see here and it is nothing to do with it. These people have been forced to go to the picket line. It is an absolute disgrace.

Tomorrow, workers from a host of community sector organisations will go on strike for the very same reason. People from Rehab Group, Western Care Association, Pieta House, local employment services, Ability West, Inclusion Ireland, jobs clubs, LEADER projects and more are going on strike for the same reason, that for 14 years Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments - it makes no difference - have ignored them.

I presume tomorrow the Government will come out with another glib statement saying it has nothing to do with it. The only way these workers can get a pay rise is for the Government to engage with their employers, release the funds and make it happen. For too long we have had platitudes about these workers. They are front-line workers who do incredible work in the community sector, bringing people back from addiction and exclusion, getting them into work, society and third level education, and getting them back on the road to having a decent life. For 14 years governments have ignored the staff who provide these services. Are they going to have to go on strike again after today and tomorrow? Will the Government continue to put its head in the sand and pretend it has nothing to do with it? Will someone on the Government benches today acknowledge that a great wrong has been done to these workers? We need to see the Government engage collectively with these workers and deliver the pay rise they so fully deserve. I hope for a positive response.