Government decided health workers 'not important' enough for proper pay, TD says
Eva Osborne
- Ambulance workers are engaging in a 24-hour strike action over a pay dispute until 8am on Wednesday
- The HSE has warned there will be delays responding to non-life-threatening calls for ambulances on Tuesday into Wednesday
- Elderly people who are uncertain about calling an ambulance during the strike are being told to still take action and not to delay seeking help
- Today's strike is expected to be followed by a 48-hour strike from May 19th and a 72-hour strike from May 26th
5:15pm
The HSE has warned there “will be delays responding to non-life-threatening calls for ambulances” on Tuesday into Wednesday.
Unions have agreed contingency plans with the HSE to ensure that patient safety is prioritised during the dispute.
The 999 phone service is fully operational and under the contingency plan, priority will be given to patients facing emergencies such as cardiac or respiratory arrest, and those experiencing serious trauma such as that arising from road traffic accidents.
Government figures have urged the union representatives to re-engage with State industrial relation mechanisms.
For the unions’ part, they say that there will be further work stoppages for May 19th and 26th – with additional action planned during June if the dispute is not resolved.
4:30pm
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger said the Government is not shouldering its responsibility for the strikes.
"Let's be very clear here. The Government is the employer here, right? I know it's been the practice to outsource everything, you know, to third parties like the HSE, the NTA, the NCSE," she said.
"But the Government is who makes the decisions here, and they have decided that frontline health workers are not important, not important enough to be paid properly."
4pm
Striking ambulance workers are warning of the difficulty of replacing experienced staff who leave for better paid jobs.
Speaking to Newstalk, paramedic Colin O’Leary said: "We have lost an amount of staff over the past 12 months or so who have gone to private industry, pharmaceutical industry, where they would have better terms and conditions, better pay scales, and I suppose a better work-life balance.
"And we are finding it very, very difficult to recruit staff. The National Ambulance Service had planned on significantly increasing the workforce. Unfortunately, to date, that hasn't happened."
Speaking to Newstalk, a woman named Mary said she is opposed to the strike action after her son died while waiting for an ambulance during a strike in Scotland three years ago.
"So, I don't agree that the ambulance people should be on strike," she said.
"My son was a victim, or a sacrifice, for their cause. His family, his wife, all of us, have had to suffer for whatever increase they got in their salary.
3:30pm
The Government has refused to resolve long-standing pay, conditions and staffing issues in the National Ambulance Service, the leader of Sinn Féin has said.
Mary Lou McDonald said the Government has “left the ambulance system stretched to breaking point” with “overworked paramedics under extreme pressure”.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, McDonald told the Taoiseach the work stoppage could have been avoided but accused him of letting the situation “fester” since a 2020 independent report recommendation of modernisation of ambulance services.
She said: “People who save lives are on the picket line.”
McDonald also criticised Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill for a “failure to intervene”.
3pm
Enterprise Minister Peter Burke said there is a clear process for dialogue between the HSE and the union workers.
"It's important that people work through those processes to get an agreement. One thing I always say about disagreements in pay agreements in the public service is that we always do get a resolution," he said.
"So, it's about getting around, talking around the table, working with the institutions that are there to stand ready. And, obviously my colleague, Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, will be doing a huge amount of work in that regard."
2:25pm
People Before Profit leader Richard Boyd Barrett, said the strike action taken by ambulance workers comes down to the failures of the Government and the HSE.
"The responsibility for the industrial action that the ambulance workers have been forced to take lies absolutely squarely at the door of the Government and the HSE," he said.
"So, we absolutely want to support the ambulance workers, and we believe the Government and the HSE should acknowledge the legitimacy of the claim of the ambulance workers and improve their pay accordingly."
Earlier today
Picketing ambulance workers have said they are “prepared for the long haul” after they began 24-hour strike action over a pay dispute at 8am on Tuesday.
Almost 2,000 SIPTU members in the NAS voted overwhelmingly last week for strike action relating to a dispute over updated salary scales within the service.
The Department of Health has said it is “regrettable” the strike has gone ahead and that the industrial action would have a significant impact on service capacity.
The unions say qualifications, clinical responsibilities and operational duties of emergency medical technicians (EMT), paramedics, advanced paramedics, paramedic specialists and paramedic supervisors have expanded significantly in recent years.
They also say a 5% increase recommended under the benchmarking II process has not been delivered.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin after the strike began, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “It is not satisfactory for patients or the people generally that a first-responder service should be mired in industrial action of this kind.”
He urged unions to re-engage in dialogue, adding: “It is the only way this will get resolved.”
Additional reporting PA.
