Last night, the Government shot down reports that it plans to table fresh pay proposals to nurses next Monday. In doing so, it brings the country closer to a national pay strike of more than 40,000 nurses, the largest strike organised in the country in quite some time, which Solidarity will support to the hilt. If my constituency of Cork North Central is anything to go by, the nurses enjoy the overwhelming support of the general public, who believe that they are entitled to a pay rise and understand that higher pay for nurses will make for a better health service.

Last week, the Taoiseach tried to pose as a representative for patients when he urged the nurses not to start their strikes on a busy Wednesday. That had no effect on public opinion. How hollow his words were when everybody knows his Government presides over hospital waiting lists of more than 700,000 people. He can recruit support for his stance from the corporate media or some trade union leaders who should know better, but he will not recruit support from the general public because they firmly support the nurses. In fact, the Government will be the loser if it continues to take a hard line. If the Taoiseach does not understand that, he is living in a bubble.

One of the reasons working-class people support the nurses is that those people support what the Taoiseach calls knock-on claims. Every worker in the country, public and private sector alike, deserves a decent pay increase. Many are struggling with the cost of accommodation and childcare, while the working poor, who are struggling just to make ends meet, desperately need one. The Taoiseach will say the country cannot afford it, but a financial transaction tax on shares and derivatives would raise more than twice the funding needed to meet the claim. A tax of 2% on household wealth of more than €1 million would raise more than enough to settle other claims. Record private sector profits show the affordability of pay increases above the current rates. If the capitalist market cannot afford decent pay increases in the fastest-growing economy in Europe, perhaps working people cannot afford the capitalist market.

Is the Taoiseach prepared to consider a U-turn on nurses' pay before it is too late, and before he provokes a major national strike, which, apart from anything else, will do his Government serious harm?

The Government acknowledges and is aware of the fact that two of the three unions that represent nurses have voted to strike. They have done so by a large margin - 95% - which indicates the depth of feeling among nurses and midwives about their terms, conditions and pay. The Government understands that, and we will engage with all three unions that represent the nurses and midwives with a view to avoiding strike action, if at all possible. There was a meeting between employers and unions yesterday, and there will be a meeting of the public sector pay deal oversight committee, I believe, on Friday. There will be engagement, therefore, and we will do all we can within reason to avoid strike action simply because of the impact it will have on patients. A midweek strike will have a significant impact on patients. It will be necessary to wind down activity probably from the middle of the day on Tuesday, and circumstances may not return to normal until some time on Thursday. It will result in thousands of operations being cancelled and thousands of patients not getting the appointment with the specialist they may have waited to see for a long time, which we want to avoid. Even if it is cancelled at the last moment, as strikes sometimes are, it will be too late to reschedule everything, which is why we will engage through the normal mechanisms between now and then to try to avoid strike action.

It is important to point out again that we have a pay deal, not only with nurses and midwives, but with all 300,000 public servants. That pay deal runs until 2020 and provides for pay increases between now and then. We want to pay those increases because we want to pay our public servants better as they deserve to be paid better, but we need to do it in such a way that it is affordable and fair, recognising what is happening in the wider economy and recognising the wider political situation, particularly relating to Brexit. I note the comments of the Leader of the Opposition about how Brexit may have an impact on the public finances in the months and years ahead.

The Deputy said it was his analysis that this dispute could lead to knock-on claims across the public service, which may well be correct, but that would leave us with a bill for hundreds of millions, if not billions, of euro in pay increases, which we cannot afford. As is always the case with populists of the left and right, they present easy answers and simple solutions such as a financial transaction tax but that would just drive financial transactions to other financial centres. It would not bring in the money that the Deputy believes it would, and it is disrespectful to nurses and midwives considering going on strike to present easy answers like that which he knows are not true.

Once again the Taoiseach has tried to play up the question of inconveniences to patients as a way of making his case against the nurses' strike. Before coming to the Chamber, I looked up this morning's trolley watch figures. They have fallen slightly, but for the third consecutive day the figure is in excess of 500. The Taoiseach and the Government have no credibility in trying to pose themselves as champions of patients in the context of the dispute.

Similarly, the Taoiseach tried to bring in the issue of Brexit in making his case against the strike. Working people will not be impressed by that in any sense, and the Government will not get away with using Brexit as a way of standing against the rights of working people.

There is one rule for the people at the top and one rule for ordinary working people on the ground. The bosses of the top 20 ISEQ companies are paid 33 times more, on average than their staff's salaries. Some of the chief executive officers have wages of more than €5 million. The Taoiseach will shrug his shoulders and say it is because of market forces, but he will ignore that the labour market demands that nurses be paid. They are paid 20% more in the private sector. They should be paid the going rate to avoid the strike. If there is any discomfiture, inconvenience or worse to patients as a result of a strike, it will be due to the hard line taken by the Taoiseach and his Government.

I care deeply and profoundly about patients. I am a medical doctor by training, I worked in the public health service - and never in the private health service - for seven years, I have been a Minister for Health, and I am the leader of the Government. I care deeply, therefore, about how strike action may impact on our patients. I care about patients and how they might be affected, and I care about taxpayers, whether they work or not, because people who do not work also pay taxes. Any solution, agreement or pay deal must be paid for by taxpayers one way or the other, and any strike will have an impact on patients.

I fully accept there are far too many patients on hospital trolleys. We will continue to do all we can to reduce the number. There is one area, however, where we have made undeniable progress, namely, in reducing waiting times for people who need a hospital operation or a procedure. The numbers waiting more than 12 weeks, which is the target set in the Sláintecare plan, is now at a five-year low, but strike action will impact on that. Operations will be cancelled and the enormous progress we have made in reducing waiting times for hospital operations and procedures may be reversed. I do not want that to happen, which is why we will engage with the unions to try to avoid strike action, if at all possible.