I agree with the two previous speakers about the documentary last night on the O'Shea report but I want to raise the following issue. Earlier this month, we learned that health and social care staff with community and voluntary bodies are still awaiting pay increases agreed last October. I am referring to section 10, section 39 and section 56 workers. There was an agreement for an 8% pay increase and a commitment from the Government to work towards pay parity with public sector workers. Many workers have not received any increase at all. I am well aware of this because I sit on the board of the Canal Communities Local Drug and Alcohol Task Force. In general, funding for task force projects and posts has not increased since 2009. Many salaries were subject to cuts after the crash until 2021, when pay was restored to pre-2009 levels for some workers. I am told this is reflected across most HSE-funded organisations, where pay scales have fallen well behind those of the HSE that they were originally linked to. Pay scales and funding frozen at 2009 austerity levels, or even pre-2009 cut levels, are a disaster for workers and those relying on the services. There are no pay protections, no pay parity, no pay equality, no job security and no pensions or other benefits that their public sector counterparts receive. It is an absolute disgrace. Kevin Figgis of SIPTU stated, "The night we agreed the deal [in October 2023], the Government side were saying it would apply to in excess of 2,000 organisations." He added:

They are now saying they are engaging with a little over 1,000 agencies and we are going: 'What's happened to the rest of them?'

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And what we have now is people who weren't even in the room that night telling us what was intended, which is unacceptable. We are not going to have the deal reimagined by people who weren't even there when it was agreed.

He added that there is an ongoing attempt to minimise the number of people who benefit from the deal and any future restoration of the pay link with equivalent public sector staff. From everything I have seen, I agree with him. This is a broken system. These workers are essential to the communities and people who rely on them. Many of the services in question should be provided by the public sector but are instead left to the voluntary sector, which is woefully underfunded.

This system is failing on its own merits as the funding streams struggle to see the implementation of a pay deal agreed last October. We need immediate action from the Government to ensure pay increases are passed on. The long-term effects throughout services and the risk of further strike action – action diverted last October as a result of Government inaction – are a disaster for workers and service users. These workers are central to the most vulnerable in our society. They do invaluable work and the Government is treating them like dirt. I refer in particular to community prison links workers paid through the Department of Justice, workers in the youth projects paid by City of Dublin ETB, Dublin City Council-funded workers and the HSE grant aid project staff, who have not even received the 2021 pay restoration payments. What action is the Government taking to ensure the workers of all 2,000 organisations covered by the 2023 deal will receive the pay increases they are entitled to with immediate effect?

I thank Deputy Collins. I appreciate the passion with which she discussed the issue. I just do not believe phrases like "treating them like dirt" add much to the debate, though. That is the Deputy's view.

It is their view.

It is the Deputy's view and their view. Here is my view: this Government, which I am proud to lead, very much respects and values the work carried out by these workers. The Deputy is right that there are many aspects of our public services, including health and social services, that rely on people who have been traditionally outside the public sector. We are the better for it as a country. Indeed, many of our services working with some of the most vulnerable in society are reliant on those individuals. They provide services that all of us, as constituency Deputies, know of in our communities and very much value.

This Government has done significant work over a sustained period to try to improve, regularise and come to agreement on a variety of issues within the spectrum of matters the Deputy raised. The hospice movement is one example. Transferring it from section 39 to section 38 was a big body of work but it has shown real good faith on the part of Government and will make a big difference to both the staff there and to the sustainability of those services into the future.

Regarding some of the specific issues the Deputy raised, an 8% pay increase was agreed in October 2024 on the eve of strike action. I was pleased that was agreed. A lot of hard work was done by many, including the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. My understanding is that Tusla has provided those payments and that the HSE is in the process of finalising those arrangements. The Minister for Health and I will seek an update for the Deputy for the people from the HSE who have contacted her about where that is. Following the new public sector pay deal, there will be engagement with both the section 39 and section 56 organisations on further pay issues that arise from that pay deal. I would like to think we are in a better space as a result of the agreement that was reached last October and as a result of the public sector pay deal and the engagement that will flow from that. If the Deputy wants to send me specifics, I am happy to come back on them as well.

I thank the Taoiseach. It has been 15 years since the crash. Until 2021, many of these workers had not even received a pay increase. The staffing community of voluntary organisations who are awarded the pay increase of 8% have not received it and have not been paid to date. That is outrageous. Why has it not been paid and when will it be paid? This needs to happen urgently. It undermines and makes a complete mockery of our system of industrial relations and collective bargaining. When agreements are made, they must be honoured. It must be noted that the agreement is applicable only to sections 10, 39 and 56 bodies. Projects and initiatives that have service-level agreements with the HSE are included. Those that have grant-aid agreement are not. Many other services are excluded from the agreement.

Will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health, who is sitting beside him, seriously consider setting up an implementation body with the unions, those involved in the different organisations and the Government to actually look at this? It is a very complicated system. The funding goes astray. The HSE and Department of Health have the funding, which is given to the HSE. The HSE gives it to the Department of Justice, the ETBs, Dublin City Council and all these areas. This has to be looked at in detail and implemented as quickly as possible for these workers and those services.

I thank the Deputy. I will undertake to engage with my Government colleagues. As she has rightly indicated, this cuts across a number of Departments. Many of the organisations fall within the Department of children. I have outlined on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, that Tusla has made payments. Some fall within the Department of Health or the health agency family. Some are within the Department of housing and its agencies. We have two things to do arising from this question. The first thing we need to do is to ensure that all of the agencies move forward as quickly as possible with regard to the agreement that was reached in October. The Government wants to see that happen. I will get the Deputy an update, following on from this, on that.

Second, as I referenced in my earlier answer, as a result of the new public sector pay deal, we have an opportunity and obligation to engage with the representative bodies of those staff working in the sections 10, 39 and 56 bodies. That is probably the best way to proceed. I am not sure we need a new implementation structure. I think there is a mechanism in place for engagement as a result of that. If the Deputy wants to correspond with me, I am happy to come back to her on that.