Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I also express my support for all those employed by the Irish Wheelchair Association, IWA, who took the decision to go on strike today. Those people last saw a pay increase in 2008. I stood with those workers this morning in Clontarf and, believe you me, they do not want to be out on strike.

It is important to say that minimum levels of care continue to be provided, so people are being looked after today. These workers, however, have been forced to go on strike because they feel they have no other option and that nobody is listening to them. Talking to one of those workers today, Jacinta, I was struck by her talking about the frustration of doing one of the most important jobs, of undertaking a caring role, and yet feeling so disrespected because of the rate of pay that she gets for that work. She cannot even afford to buy a car and spends hours on buses travelling across the city every day trying to get to the people she looks after. The front-line worker payment of €1,000 has not been given to these people, although they were going into houses day in and day out during the height of the pandemic, with the attendant risk to themselves and their families. To add insult to injury, there has also been no progress regarding their long-standing pay claim.

A woman who is a wheelchair user came out on the protest today. She talked about her frustration in this regard, and she fully supports the strike. From talking to other wheelchair users as well, I know they fully support what the workers in the IWA are doing today. Those service users see the frustration in this context and they want the people taking care of them to be better respected and supported. I refer to the failure by the Government, to date, in the context of section 39 organisations.Of course, the IWA is just one section 39 organisation. Not to put in place a proper system of pay is simply shameful. At the moment, the HSE is obviously giving money to the likes of the IWA and other services and yet it is poaching workers from many of those organisations and taking them into the HSE. As Jacinta said to me today, she wants to work with wheelchair users and the IWA. However, life has been made very difficult for her at the moment.

I plead for the Taoiseach to intervene personally. It is no longer about calling on the Minister for Health. Rather, it is about the Taoiseach intervening personally to ensure those who provide a very important role in our society are properly respected.