The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2018 has been in committee since last October. Today, for the fifth day, 500 paramedic and ambulance crews are out on strike, with a sixth day scheduled for 10 April. The Government has appointed a new chief executive officer to the HSE, Mr. Paul Reid, who will earn €300,000 a year, a very handsome sum indeed. That should enable him, at the very least, to attempt a solution to this dispute. Does Mr. Reid want to pick a row with 500 medical staff over their choice of representation while the HSE and the Government are up to their proverbials in several health crises? Can we find a solution? This group of workers is simply asking that they be represented by an organisation of their choice. For the third time, the HSE has been written to by the machine of the State, the Workplace Relations Commission, asking it to come in and negotiate on this issue and it is still refusing to do so. Will €300,000 a year allow the HSE boss to sort this out or what will it take to stop the escalation of this dispute?

This is the first national ambulance strike and it is happening on the watch of this Government. I have come straight from the picket line and I am scratching my head and wondering why a group of emergency workers is being abused in this way over something that seems quite simple. Why is the Taoiseach able to write to Kylie Minogue asking for a meeting but is unable to write a letter to the HSE asking it to recognise a group of workers in a union of 500? Is it by any chance because the Minister for Health is being dictated to by a larger union or is it now Government policy only to deal with unions that it believes toe the party line? What is going on? Why is this happening? These workers are using the slogan, "Our union, our choice", and that should be recognised and respected.

Since his name has been raised twice, I wish Mr. Paul Reid well in what is a very difficult job.

Hear, hear.

He is a very decent and competent person. I know him well from when I was in the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government.

He is getting a very decent pay packet.

It is an outrageous salary.

Given the enormity of the challenge he is taking on, he will earn every cent of what he is paid.

The workers we are talking about earn every cent of their pay. The ambulance workers earn their money.

This issue has been raised repeatedly. This is a complex dispute which involves an inter-union dispute as well as a series of other issues. The Taoiseach and I have been clear that it will not be solved by a politician.

It needs to be solved within the trade union movement.

Inter-union matters have nothing to do with the Tánaiste. He should recognise the union they choose.