Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to see the Minister.I do not know how much contact he has had with these workers but when you speak to them and hear about the constraints on their lives because of the lack of a decent public service contract, you discover they have to sign on every summer and have to take out credit union loans to get through that summer because they only get the money for the dole by the time they go back to work in September. You discover it is almost impossible for them to qualify for a mortgage and they are unable to plan financially for their futures. I am sure the Minister will agree these workers do incredibly important work, including everything from adult literacy to pre-university education courses. It is evident, despite the best efforts of their unions, both the TUI and SIPTU, they have been forgotten about. You need only do a search on this topic to see that a whole host of people across the Seanad and the Dáil have raised this issue before. They were promised there would be a resolution but there has been no resolution. We are now three years on from the Labour Court recommendation. As my colleague said, the promise of an offer that was made last September still have not been delivered. To be honest, both unions and their members have been incredibly generous to the Government by not balloting for strike action.

I hope the Minister will give a positive answer. I appeal to him, as someone who has engaged very well on Commencement matters in the past, not to give us an answer in terms of "We are working on this. It will come through shortly." We heard that last year and two years ago. These workers are at the end of their tether. They carry out incredibly important work. They are looking for decent contracts of work and if this were a private sector organisation, we would all be out picketing it. However, this is the State letting down some of the most important workers in the State. The Minister has the power to address this matter finally. I hope he will give us a positive and clear response today.