Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We had a lively debate last week about University Hospital Limerick. At the end of the debate, the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, made a quite extraordinary statement. He alleged that last week there was an average of just six patients on trolleys for the week in University Hospital Limerick. I checked the record. That is what he actually said and I think the Cathaoirleach might have seen me shaking my head at the time, in disagreement with him. It is front page news in Limerick this week. The INMO official, Ms Mary Fogarty, said, "I have no idea where the Minister got the figures but there were 77 people on trolleys when we were there". The figure this morning is 76.

I want to be very clear, I do not believe the Minister is a dishonest man in any way. However, I do believe he is getting really bad information from hospital management. I was very clear during the debate last week in calling for a change in the senior management team in UHL. Either way, the Minister needs to come in and correct the record. It is absolutely outrageous to suggest there were six patients on trolleys each day when it is 76 or 77, consistently, through the week. The people of Limerick deserve the record to be corrected. I would ask for the Deputy Leader's assistance in the matter, if possible.

I want to raise the issue of the 38 Rehab Group workers who were made redundant two years ago. I am really pleased that the Deputy Leader is here because it is an issue she has provided support for in the past. The workers had an agreement through their union SIPTU to get four weeks paid redundancy plus two weeks statutory redundancy. For two years now, the Rehab management group has ignored the deal. They have ignored determinations from the Labour Court and the Workplace Relations Commission. The final decision came out from the Labour Court at the end of November, and it was very clear, after financial analysis of the company, that Rehab has millions of euro in the bank to actually pay the decent redundancy to these workers, probably some of the most vulnerable workers in the State, many of them with profound disabilities.

An independent financial analysis established that Rehab has millions of euro in the bank. What is shocking to me is that since then, the management of Rehab has decided to just knuckle down, keep their heads down and hope that this will go away. It is outrageous. Let us not forget that this is a company in receipt of massive amounts of public money each year.

I again ask the Deputy Leader for her assistance in this matter. If I bring a motion to the Seanad calling on the management of Rehab to honour the agreement with SIPTU and honour the redundancy deal for these very vulnerable people, perhaps people of all parties would sign it. The current situation cannot stand. We cannot allow it to stand that a company in receipt of public funding ignores the Workplace Relations Commission, the machinery of the State and the Labour Court and leaves some of the most vulnerable workers in Limerick abandoned. This issue is not going to go away. I am quite prepared to stand outside Rehab's doors, along with my SIPTU colleagues if needs to be. I would hope for common sense to prevail. I ask for the support of the House in that regard.