Earlier today, I stood with Labour colleagues outside Leinster House in solidarity with staff from the national advocacy service and SIPTU members who have been left with no option but to resume strike action because of the failure by management to respect Labour Court recommendations. I heard the Taoiseach's earlier response and I listened to it very carefully. He mentioned benchmarking. I would like a little clarity on that. It boils down to a simple question. The people I spoke to, people who provide a vital service and supports to a great many disabled persons, certainly asked a simple question: is a State-funded body prepared to implement a Labour Court recommendation in full or not? It is as simple as that. We need to see progress on this so that the staff of the national advocacy service can get the fair pay and conditions they deserve and, crucially, so that those for whom they provide services can get those services back.

I have looked into the issue because the service does excellent work and we all want to see this resolved. It is my understanding that, following consultation with the Department of Social Protection, the board of the NAS and the Citizens Information Board, CIB, have agreed to implement the Labour Court recommendation in order to address pay divergence and to ensure that staff in the NAS are paid the same as those in comparable grades in other companies under the CIB umbrella. For clarity, my note tells me that the only item that remains is the detail of which grades are to be used as benchmarks for this purpose. Although the union submitted a proposal, the Labour Court did not specify the grades. Both the workers and the CIB agreed to participate in talks led by the former chair of the Labour Court, Kevin Duffy, to agree this detail. As part of these talks, the CIB agreed to be bound by the recommendation of the independent assessment as to the grades that were comparable. Those talks broke down. With regard to the Labour Court recommendation, we just need clarity on that benchmarking issue. I hope that, if everyone engages in good faith, as I am sure the union side will, we can bring this matter to a final conclusion.