Review of nurses' pay should be immediately set up to prevent national strike - opposition parties
An independent judge-led review of nurses' pay should be immediately set up to prevent a national strike which could cripple the hospital system, opposition parties have said.
Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, Labour and other parties demanded the move despite Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe warning that doing so could cause a flood of pay claims which will cause havoc to the economy.
With just a fortnight to go before the first day of a series of national strikes by more than 43,000 nurses across the country, opposition parties yesterday insisted the Government must make allowances to ensure the issue is addressed.
The oppositon parties said an independent judge-led review of nurses' pay should be established immediately and make findings within six weeks in order to find a solution to the stand-off.
In the Dáil, Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Stephen Donnelly said while an existing public service pay commission already exists, a special system for nurses would stop the "strike action nurses and midwives did not choose lightly".
Mr Donnelly said the genuine concerns of medics need to be acknowledged and not simply brushed under the carpet.
The view was repeated by Fianna Fáil TDs James Browne, Barry Cowen and Lisa Chambers, before Sinn Féin health spokesperson Louise O'Reilly said "nurses and midwives deserve our support" and party colleague Imelda Munster told Government to "get a grip" on the issue.
However, despite Labour health spokesperson Alan Kelly similarly demanding a special independent pay review for nurses to prevent the imminent strike action, Health Minister Simon Harris said only so much can be done at this stage.
Insisting he is always available to speak with nurses, Mr Harris said he found the "revisionism" in the Dáil debate "simply breathtaking", saying Mr Donnelly in particular told a health committee meeting last July nurses were "among the highest paid in the world" - a claim Mr Donnelly said was taken entirely out of context.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had earlier told the Dáil during the leaders questions debate that while he understood the concerns of nurses, the reality is if the Government makes an exception for nurses it may guarantee pay claims from other sectors.
Responding to Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Mick Barry, Mr Varadkar said: "You have said that it is your analysis that this dispute could lead to knock-on claims across the public service and I think your analysis may well be correct, but that would lead us with a bill of billions of euro, certainly hundreds of millions of euro in pay increases and that is not something we could afford."
In a separate exchange in the Dáil hours later, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said although everyone understands the needs of nurses, "a certain amount of money is given every year and that is set aside for pay".
Noting the pay claim is coming "at the very time we are facing such risk to our economy", Mr Donohoe said if the pay claim is met in full it will amount to "in effect a 12% wage increase within that part of the public service" - an increase he said is not affordable at this point in time.
