Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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422. To ask the Minister for Health his plans to provide extra funding under the section 39 grants heading to the community health care organisation, CHO, area 2 in view of the need to fund an association (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49387/17]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under Section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the HSE has in place Service Level Agreements with voluntary providers which set out the level of service to be provided for the grant to the individual organisation. Any individuals employed by these Section 39 organisations are not HSE employees, therefore neither the HSE nor my Department has a role in determining the salaries or other terms and conditions applying to these staff.

The staff of these Section 39 organisations are not public servants and therefore were not subject to the FEMPI legislation which imposed pay reductions. It follows then that the staff of the Section 39 bodies will not be eligible for any pay restoration associated with the unwinding of this legislation and provided for under the more recent Public Service Agreements. It is a matter for Section 39 organisations to negotiate salaries with their staff as part of their employment relationship and within the overall funding available for the delivery of agreed services.

Whilst it is understood that pay cuts were imposed on Section 39 employees, it is not clear that these cuts were applied in a universally consistent manner across all the Section 39 agencies. It is also important to recognise that this group of organisations within the health sector is just one element of a larger complex issue which could have significant cost implications for the Exchequer across the public services as a whole.