Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, The Wheel, the charities association of Ireland, held its conference. A key message from it was that section 39, section 56 and section 10 organisations are on the brink of collapse. The issues, relating to recruitment and retention and the very significant disparity between the pay of the State and that of the various organisations, are not new and have been evident for years. The affected workers are in disability, homelessness, rape crisis and community services. They are providing vital services to the most vulnerable. They work for the State but are not paid by it. They are on the sharp end of a funding system that has meant many of them have not received a pay increase in well over a decade. We have had years of campaigning to get the Government to concede to a process to consider pay in the organisations. This process commenced in the past month. It is very welcome that there is a process but it will cover only the 300 largest organisations. We know that there are well over 1,400 section 39 organisations in the country, and there are nearly 2,000 affected when section 56 and section 10 organisations are included. There has to be a sense of urgency regarding the organisations. There is no point in our talking about the need to support disability services or rape crisis services if we do not ensure that we have the right people, properly paid, in place. Ultimately, we need a single pay framework for all those working in care in this country, regardless of whether they are employed directly by the HSE or employed by one of the other organisations. We have done it for the early years sector and now need to do it for the care sector.