On my own behalf and that of my party, I wish to express our deepest sympathies for the families of all those who were murdered or injured in Las Vegas. It was an appalling atrocity with so many innocent people mowed down. At times like this, we are reminded of the extraordinary role of first responders in situations like this and we salute them and their courage in assisting. One hopes that common sense will ultimately prevail and that gun laws in the US are changed. It is extraordinary how so many deadly weapons can end up in the hands of one individual.
The hospice movement is one of the most cherished areas of care in our country. Uniquely among our health services, it enjoys almost universal approval. The ethos of care, empathy, dignity and space for families to be with their loved ones is quite remarkable to experience. Over the past number of decades, the advances in palliative care have been quite remarkable encompassing short-term respite, community-based care and end-of-life stage care. We all know that communities throughout the country have helped to sustain them and have fundraised for and supported them. Yet the Government is treating these organisations and others throughout the country in a hard-hearted and deeply cynical manner by, in the first instance, refusing to allocate sufficient funding to them but, worse, compounding that by refusing to allocate funding to cover pay restoration for staff working in these institutions as per the public service pay agreements.
During the FEMPI negotiations and the cuts to public service pay, these institutions were told that they had to cut their workers' pay in line with HSE employees. However, they have been given no funding whatsoever to cover pay restoration. These include highly respected centres such as Marymount hospice in Cork, Milford Care Centre in Limerick, St. Joseph's Hospital in Raheny and Galway hospice, which I visited recently.
It is not only hospices. There are hundreds of other organisations across the country in a similar situation which provide disability services, addiction counselling, services for carers, organisations such as Barnardos and Barretstown camp for young children with cancer, the Disability Federation of Ireland, the Diabetes Federation of Ireland and as many as 768 others. The Minister's reply to parliamentary questions on this subject is deeply cynical and dishonest. He says that they were not subject to the FEMPI legislation which imposed pay reductions, or the provisions of subsequent public service agreements which provided for pay restoration. Many of these organisations depend on the community.
The Taoiseach added insult to injury some months ago by telling me that they would not get pay restoration but that he would not allow them to cut services either. It is not tenable. I ask the Taoiseach if the Government will provide necessary funding to enable hospices, disability organisations, elderly care organisations and many more to pay their employees the same rate of restoration that is allowed for in the public service pay agreement.