Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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616. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when section 39 employees will receive their pay increase following the pay agreement reached in October 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29594/24]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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This government acknowledges the roles provided by essential workers in community and voluntary organisations who deliver health and social care services to many people across the country.

To support the sustainability of services, including the ability of organisations to recruit and retain staff, the government is proactively engaging with a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) process with unions representing various organisations across these sectors.

The pay agreement reached in October 2023 delivered a significant increase in funding to these services, amounting to a phased 8% increase in funding for pay for Section 39 staff. An additional €41m has been made available to the HSE in 2024 to meet the full year cost of this increase for S39 disability service providers, with the balance provided for in the Department of Health Vote.

The HSE has contracted dedicated resources to work with employer organisations and has set up a portal to expedite payments. Significant interim payments were made to qualifying organisations in late January/early February 2024 and the HSE is currently in the process of administering the balance of funding to eligible organisations.

At 27^th June, of 1,160 organisations to whom communication was made, 551 have made submissions.

Almost all submissions require additional interaction between the contractor and the Section 39 organisation; this has been a positive interactive process involving validation and clarification. A number of Section 39s have taken the opportunity to adjust their submissions following this engagement. This process is ongoing with Section 39 organisations who have submitted their claim.

172 organisations, which includes the largest disability funded organisations, have exited this process and benefitted from €44.6m in additional funding for pay.

It is the objective of commissioning agencies to make all due payments without delay so that employees of these service provider organisations can access their entitlements without delay. There is also a responsibility of employers to apply for this available funding and pass on increases to eligible staff as soon as possible.