As we gather in the Chamber this morning, communities are gathering in Dunlewey, Gortahork and Falcarragh for the funerals of the four men who were killed last Sunday evening. Guím gach tacaíocht ón dTeach seo go dtí an ceantar sin inniu, go háirithe go dtí clanna agus cairde an cheathrair.

Yesterday, 30,000 members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, began a 24-hour work stoppage and completed that at 8 a.m. This is only the second time in 100 years that they were forced to do that, which gives an indication of their frustration and anger at the issues facing them in their jobs daily. Today, an additional 6,000 psychiatric nurses have initiated an overtime ban which will impact on services throughout the country. Further strikes are planned by the INMO and the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA, for tomorrow relating to overtime bans, and again for next week. There is a huge recruitment and retention crisis in the mental health sector, which we will discuss later, but particularly in nursing. There has been a 40% increase in vacancies in psychiatric nursing since November 2017.

What we had yesterday was the Taoiseach acting as a commentator once again. It was like he was Ingrid Miley outside the talks and giving his commentary on those talks. There is no sense of leadership from him, no sense of engagement, and no sense of concern to try to avoid the second strike, which will happen next Tuesday for the INMO, or to stop the overtime ban which is happening today.

What progress has the Taoiseach or the Cabinet made since last Monday, when the Labour Court met for eight hours and tried to work a path between both parties? Did the Government get a report from that court work on Monday? What actions have been taken by the Government during this week to try to address the concerns of the nurses in both organisations and to try to establish a process within which their concerns can be dealt and addressed with respect and integrity? Is the Government just putting its head in the sand again, when once again next Tuesday they will take to the pickets and all the Government will offer is tea and sympathy?

I would like to share in the offering of condolences to the families in Donegal who are going through an unspeakable level of grief and pain today. The thoughts of this House are with Donegal in general, but in particular with the four families concerned and the wide circle of friends who have been impacted in such an extraordinary way. I thank the Deputy for raising that.

There are a couple of comments I would like to say in regard to the nurses strike yesterday. First, the Government understands the frustration and the resolve of nurses. We want to thank them for their pragmatism in regard to putting contingency plans in place yesterday and, although there was extraordinary disruption, there was also significant co-operation with management to ensure essential services were provided. I want to thank them for that.

The Government does not want to be at odds with nurses in Ireland. They are great people, doing very difficult work, often in very pressurised circumstances. We want to work with nurses, the INMO and the psychiatric nurses to build a better health service that can attract many young people into this profession. While some progress has been made in regard to recruitment over the past five years and well over 3,000 extra nurses have come into the system, we recognise the challenges around health recruitment generally at the moment. That is why the Government set up the Public Sector Pay Commission to look into healthcare and nursing specifically and to make recommendations. While I know the INMO has not been happy with that, it certainly was a significant effort by Government to recognise the challenges they face at the moment.

However, we have to have this conversation with nursing unions on the basis of the broader picture, which is a public sector pay agreement they have signed up to, we have signed up to and many other public servants and the unions they are part of have signed up to as well. What we are saying is that we want to talk. We want the Labour Court to do its job and work with management and Government and with nursing unions to make recommendations as a basis for a way forward that can avoid the impact of strike action for two days next week. We are serious about that and we want to engage, but we have to, as the Taoiseach has outlined repeatedly, ensure that we do that within the confines and parameters of a pay agreement which nurses themselves signed up to be part of.

I thank the Tánaiste. He speaks of the Government's understanding and respect for nurses, yet the front of today's Irish Examiner reports there are plans under way by the Government to dock nurses' pay increases and pension increases for striking. Can the Tánaiste confirm this is being discussed by the Government? What kind of message does the publishing of that story send out in terms of the Government wanting to engage with respect and to engage with their issues? What kind of message does it send when the Government allows that story to be printed during an industrial dispute? It does not send a message of respect or regard, or of openness, or of trying to deal with the issues.

What we do not need is tea and sympathy: what we need is respect. The Tánaiste speaks of his respect and we all have that, yet the Government allows this to be published and it will allow another picket to proceed on Tuesday and overtime bans to proceed in the psychiatric services today. The Government needs to outline a plan between now and next Tuesday to engage, not to give tea and sympathy.

The Deputy knows as well as I that the Government does not give permission to any newspaper to set its headline and front pages. Those are decisions that are taken by newspapers and their editors.

Is the story true?

What the Government has said is that we are taking legal advice regarding the options that are available to us, consistent with the pay agreement that everybody signed up to with their eyes open. There is a responsibility on the Government to deliver on that, and that involves hundreds of millions of euro of extra pay across the public sector. There is also a responsibility on unions and their leadership to fulfil the obligations of those agreements. That is what protects Ireland in terms of industrial peace and ensures that civil and public servants get the pay increases they deserve and that we allocate the appropriate level of resources to deliver on those commitments, which is what we are doing. What we cannot do is interrupt that process and undermine it fundamentally for any one sector. I do not believe that if the Deputy was the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform today, or, in fact, if members of the other parties were the Minister today, they would propose a breach in the public sector pay agreement to resolve this issue either. We want the industrial relations machinery of the State, the Labour Court in particular, which is good at this, to work with both sides to find a basis to at least avoid industrial action next week. The Government is sincere about that but we have to do it within the parameters the Taoiseach has outlined.