There is a terrible legacy of this State relying on charity to deliver care for the most vulnerable sections of our society, particularly those with disability. We have perpetuated a situation where 5,000 workers in 30 organisations have been forced to serve strike notice of three weeks on this date. This is an indefinite strike in the section 39 sector. I want to make a very simple argument. These workers took massive pay cuts during austerity. Other workers have had their pay restored, but these workers have not. Why are we treating them differently given that the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, said here a few months ago that on the one hand these are private organisations but on the other hand we largely fund them, so we cannot divorce ourselves from their ability to pay their staff? If we push the staff of the Irish Wheelchair Association, the National Learning Network, Enable Ireland, Depaul, Cobh hospital and the Rehab Group - the list goes on and on - out on strike, shame on us. We are boasting that we have never had as much money in the national purse as we have now. I ask the Taoiseach to intervene to prevent this strike from happening and to make sure the people who look after our most vulnerable get pay parity.

We very much value the work carried out by these organisations and the people who work in them. As I have said before, it is important to understand that they are not public sector employees. We do not determine what their salary is, what their pensions are, who gets hired or who does not get hired. They are outside of the public service. However, the Government is the main funder of all the services they provide. That is why we absolutely have a role to play in funding these organisations. An offer of a 5% pay increase is on the table which would kick in within a matter of weeks in November. Of that, 3% would be backdated which means that people would get a lump sum, perhaps in time for Christmas. There is a commitment to engage on a further increase if and when we have a public service pay deal. That is what was done in the past. The pay deal was done with the public servants and subsequent to that, a few months later, an agreement was made with the section 39 sector.