I want to join others in offering sincere sympathies to the family of Kim Damti on the awful news of her death during the brutal Hamas attack at the weekend. We are all thinking of her and her family. Today is the last sitting day before strike action is taken by community and voluntary care workers in section 10, section 39 and section 56 organisations. They do not want to go on strike. At a briefing organised by my colleague Deputy Duncan Smith yesterday, Martha Buckley, who is a carer for older people, said, “I’m going to be crying on the picket line, but we have no choice.” I have heard from constituents whose children will be desperately badly affected by the strike next week, as they will themselves. No one wants this strike to go ahead but the Government is doing nothing to stop it. The Tánaiste did not allocate anything for these workers in Tuesday’s budget. I understand that the unions have not even received contact from the Government in an attempt to avert the strike scheduled for next Tuesday. Will the Tánaiste step up now and avert the awful consequences that strike action will have for all of those - children with additional needs, wheelchair users and so many more - who will be really impacted by the withdrawal of services by the community and voluntary sector?

I thank the Deputy.

Will he avert strike action by guaranteeing pay parity for community and voluntary workers before next Tuesday?

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue. I say to her that the Government is committed to resolving this issue. There had been discussions between the unions and Government officials and there had been contacts. As the Deputy knows, an offer was made but that was not acceptable to the union side. Contacts are ongoing and it is our determination to work with all sides to avoid strike action. We want to avoid strike action next week and we want to try to get this issue resolved on a sustainable basis into the future.