: Deputy Flynn has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of a strike in St. Mary's Psychiatric Hospital. Castlebar. I would remind the Deputy that, while the Minister has responsibility for the patients in the hospital, he has no responsibility for the strike which is a matter between the health board and the staff. Therefore, Deputy Flynn will please confine himself to the part for which the Minister has responsibility.
Adjournment Debate . - Castlebar Psychiatric Hospital .
: A Cheann Comhairle, I should like to indicate to you my gratitude for allowing this matter to be raised on the Adjournment. While I am always reluctant to get involved in these matters, hoping that solutions can be found in the short period, unfortunately very little progress has been made on this dispute since it started on 18 April. I hope I can persuade the Minister to use his good offices to bring about a speedy solution to the problems.
I recognise fully what you said, a Cheann Comhairle, about the Minister's involvement in this regard. I am quite sure that the Minister and many others are just as concerned as I am about the situation which has arisen in Castlebar in St. Mary's Psychiatric Hospital, one of the institutions under the control of the Western Health Board. Some 600 patients live in the institution and are looked after by about 260 psychiatric nurses, male and female.
As the Minister probably knows, the building goes back to the middle of the last century, with some additions in the early part of this century. It now has an admission and treatment unit attached to the Castlebar acute hospital. It also is affected by this dispute. My interest here this evening is to speak for the community this hospital serves, that is, the whole community of County Mayo, 114,000 persons. The patients in the institution come from that area. These 600 Mayo people living in that institution, cared for by the nurses, have been suffering considerable discomfort since 18 April. I speak on behalf of the community and primarily on behalf of the patients.
Quite a number of these patients would not have any voice to speak for them in that many of them are long-stay patients in the psychiatric hospital. In their interests and in the interests of all concerned, administration and staff, it is only right and proper that every effort should be made to bring about a speedy and happy solution to this unfortunate dispute.
The history of the dispute is very simple. As I understand it strike notice was served on 11 April and the official strike by members of the ITGWU, psychiatric nurses branch, started on 18 April. Considerable public disquiet has been expressed in County Mayo about the dispute and the effect it is having on the hospital, patients, and staff relations there, which are at a low ebb. Those difficulties were compounded by some statements issued last week, in particular one published in the Evening Herald on Wednesday 20 April when the chief executive officer of the Western Health Board, in the course of a statement about the dispute, referred to the conditions that pertained there since the start of the strike and the activities of the nursing staff. To say the least of it the article was anything but complimentary. Following the publication of that article there was considerable disquiet among my constituents and that disquiet was brought to the notice of all public representatives in the area. So concerned was I about that statement that I felt it incumbent on me to seek permission from the CEO and the RMS of the hospital to go to the hospital to verify the authenticity, or otherwise, of the statement. My colleague, Deputy Enda Kenny, also had a considerable amount of representation made to him in this regard.
On Saturday both of us went to the hospital, independent of each other. If Deputy Kenny wishes some of my time to contribute to this debate I will be happy to give way to him. I make that gesture to show how unanimous we are, as representatives for the area, in our concern to see an end to this dispute which has caused so many grievances in the area. It was because of the conditions we saw that we felt it necessary to issue a statement on Saturday. It would be no harm to put that statement on the record of the House because it did not get the same type of publicity as the statement issued concerning the appalling conditions allegedly in the hospital during the strike. The statement, signed by Deputy Kenny and myself in St. Mary's Hospital on Saturday 23 April, is as follows:
There has been considerable public disquiet following statements issued during the week concerning the conditions that exist at St. Mary's hospital where an official dispute is in progress. In the interest of all concerned we visited the hospital today and inspected the hospital wards, dormitories, sanitary arrangements, day rooms and dining facilities. A skeleton staff is operating throughout the hospital together with management supervision of one ward and supervision of all facilities is operating providing essential basic care and attention for all the patients.
Considering that a dispute has been in progress for one week the general conditions at the hospital are remarkably good. It is apparent that this position has been achieved by careful monitoring of the situation by the strike committee and the fact that the domestic staff is working normally.
We are very concerned that an early solution be found to the strike issues as any escalation of the dispute would have very serious consequences for the general level of patient care and general relationships within the hospital. In pursuit of an early settlement we will be asking for an immediate resumption of negotiations between all the parties involved and look forward to an early return to normal hospital routine.
Unfortunately, that early solution has not yet been found despite our best efforts. Shortly after our visit the problem escalated and now involves the maintenance staff of the institution. Also the ward aids and the laundry staff have been out since last Monday in sympathy with the official strike and I am led to believe that it is intended within a matter of hours that the strike will be further escalated. This will make it even more difficult to find a solution. A solution must be found to every dispute, whether official or unofficial, and it will not be found until people are prepared to meet, negotiate and consult.
: I think the Deputy is dealing more with the strike than the difficulties brought about by the strike.
: My concern is that the matter will escalate and make it considerably more difficult for the parties to come together. Stands are now being taken and the major bone of contention——
: The Minister has no responsibility.
: It is important that the Minister should be made aware that the strike committee, on behalf of the nurses involved, have indicated that there are certain areas of conflict which must be resolved and this is the basis for the dispute. It is important that we understand this so that we can ask the Minister to use his good offices——
: It may be interesting to the Minister, as it is interesting to me, but the Minister has no responsibility for it. It is a matter between the health board and the staff.
: Quite so. I appreciate that and I recognise that the Minister is not the relevant Minister as far as Labour Court matters are concerned. However, he is a colleague of the Minister for Labour and he has a responsibility for the running of the eight health boards. This is one of the largest institutions under his care and he should be fully briefed on the matter so that he can use his good offices to bring about a situation where those on strike can be brought to the negotiating table.
The breaking of the 1971 promotion agreement by management is a fundamental issue. The other areas of contention are the change of status of the students, the appointment of psychiatric nurses without prior consultation or agreement with the relevant trade union, the proposed integration of services in the institution, the breaking of the agreement on roster days and the unacceptable attitude of the chief nursing officer.
Aspects of this dispute concern the Employment Equality Agency and the Labour Court and I am sure there are people active in these areas but we do not seem to be moving towards a solution. We hear that there will be further escalation and no Labour Court sitting has yet been announced. I am asking the Minister, on behalf of the community which this institution serves, on behalf of the 600 or so patients there and in the interests of the good relations which should exist between the administrative staff, the chief nursing officer and his staff and the administration in the Western Health Board, to use his good offices immediately in order to find a solution. The sooner the dispute is ended the better because it concerns the health of a large number of people. The Minister may not have a direct involvement with the Labour Court but he could make strong representations to his colleague, the Minister for Labour, before the matter escalates further.
Because of the continuation of the dispute I intend to visit the hospital at the weekend in the hope that the arrangements and the facilities I saw last weekend will be as good as they were then. I am glad to give way to Deputy Kenny for the time remaining.
: I thank you for allowing this matter to be raised this evening and I thank Deputy Flynn for giving me some minutes of his time. I wish to show solidarity in relation to this issue which has now escalated to very serious proportions. When Deputy Flynn and I independently visited the hospital last Saturday we did so with the specific intention of seeing for ourselves whether or not there was any validity in the statements which had been given to the media and which did no good in relation to the dispute. It was very gratifying to see the cleanliness and the remarkably good condition of the wards and dormitories, despite the fact that the dispute had been going on for a week. Sooner or later the dispute will have to be settled but the date of a Labour Court hearing has yet to be announced. Staff relations are at an extremely low ebb. All the people of the county are very concerned about the lack of initiative in bringing about a solution.
The points at issue have been mentioned by Deputy Flynn. If the Minister is in a position to consult with his colleague, the Minister for Labour, with a view to making some progress towards a solution, I would ask him to do so. St. Mary's Hospital is one of the few psychiatric hospitals which has opened its doors to the public during the past decade and both staff and management have been very courteous in inviting the public to see the conditions and the workings of the hospital. Some necessary reconstruction work has taken place during the past few years which makes St. Mary's one of the better psychiatric hospitals. The nursing staff now have the sympathy of other sections of the staff in this dispute and it is a shame to see the problem escalating. I would ask the Minister to consult with his colleague, the Minister for Labour, and to take the initiative towards finding some solution to this dispute.
: I am extremely concerned about this dispute because there are some 615 patients in St. Mary's. At present there are some 40 nurses on duty, plus nine senior nurses. I gather that the senior nurses have been working around the clock and that the non-nursing staff, except for the catering and boiler-house staff, have been let off. They are likely to go on Monday next. Therefore, the conditions in the hospital, which may not be critical at the moment, could become critical and entirely unsatisfactory in a short space of time.
I am concerned about the dispute on another basis, that it relates on a statutory basis to the system of promotion. Prior to September 1982, section 2 (c) and (d) of the Employment Equality Act, 1977, had been interpreted as excluding psychiatric hospitals from the provisions of the Act. Following receipt of a reasoned opinion from the EEC Commission the then Government decided on 19 February 1982 to approve the amendment of the Act to conform with the Commission's interpretation of the Council Directive of 9 February 1976. The amendment was effected by means of regulations made by the then Minister for Labour. Deputy Flynn will recall that in September 1982 a copy of the regulations came into effect and these naturally had to be transmitted by my Department to the CEOs of the health boards. That happened in November 1982.
Following receipt of a copy of the regulations the Western Health Board referred the matter to their legal advisers who advised that the board would be acting in breach of the Employment Equality Act, 1977, if they continued to promote nurses on a strict seniority basis either from single sex promotional panels or from a single merged promotional panel. There are two separate and distinct seniority promotional panels, one for male nurses and one for female nurses. A merger of these two seniority promotional panels to give a single seniority promotional panel would be likely to have the consequence of male nurses who, as we know, generally have greater seniority than their female counterparts, dominating any system of promotion which is based solely on seniority. The health board got subsequent legal confirmation of it. I am reasonably satisfied from my inquiries on a separate basis that this is entirely well founded in law.
Pending clarification of the issue, the health boards have ceased to make permanent appointments to promotional spots. The union concerned, the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union, threatened industrial action unless management reverted to the former practice. The action of the Western Health Board in advertising for and subsequently selecting and appointing qualified psychiatric nurses to staff nurse posts was a direct consequence of that obligation to conform with the law and in strict compliance as well with the recommendation of the employment equality officer. I must put on record, from a statutory point of view, that the Western Health Board are discharging their statutory responsibilities as an employer strictly in accordance with the law as they must do properly and conscientiously.
I gather the equality officer of the Labour Court, after the strike commenced on 18 April last, commenced her investigation of the dispute on 26 April and I gather she has concluded her consultation with the Western Health Board. I hope that the report of the employment equality officer will be available as soon as possible. I also hope that the dispute will be resolved because we have got to point out that in the Western Health Board area, as far back as 1980, the employment equality officer of the Labour Court received a request from a group of temporary female psychiatric nurses in St. Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe, to investigate alleged discrimination in relation to their terms and conditions of employment on the grounds of marital status contrary to the provisions of the Employment Equality Act 1977.
In March 1981, if I can give some further background, the employment equality officer found that the practice of exclusive recruitment of staff nurses from student psychiatric nurses discriminated indirectly against married women contrary to section 2 (c) of the Employment Equality Act 1977. This finding is contained in the equality officer's recommendation No. EE 11/81. The equality officer went on to recommend "that the board should immediately initiate all the necessary procedures so that a new system of recruitment such as open competition, may be introduced as soon as possible". The equality officer also recommended that "trainee nurses recruited in 1981 and future academic years should be recruited on the basis that they will not have an automatic entitlement to permanent positions on completion of their training". Though the equality officer's findings arose in the Western Health Board area, it was viewed as having national application as the recruiting procedures in all the health board areas were identical. Accordingly, the Department of Health had to issue a circular to the CEOs of the health boards on 27 July 1982 directing them to change their recruiting arrangements for psychiatric nurses in order to comply with the equality officer's recommendation.
The Western Health Board duly held an open competition in the autumn of 1982 for qualified basic grade staff nurses and had formed a panel of 12 nurses to be appointed in the board's psychiatric hospital. The Western Health Board appointed two of these nurses to vacancies in St. Mary's Hospital, Castlebar. The Transport Union then indicated that unspecified industrial action would commence on Monday, 18 April, if the board proceeded with those appointments. On 31 March the Western Health Board sought the intervention of the Employment Equality Agency and the Labour Court in those matters.
It is very important that those matters should be on record because as a former trade union official who had some dealings with psychiatric hospitals' employment practices and industrial disputes therein, I know there has been a tendency over the years to bring other matters into a dispute. This is the dispute and I am very seriously concerned about it. I certainly hope the union will do their utmost, in mature consultation with their members, to have the dispute resolved. This is of critical importance.
: Will the Minister initiate the consultation?
: My role as Minister for Health is to ensure that the health agencies discharge their statutory responsibilities in relation to employment practices.
: Would the Minister agree that another view is being expressed by the union? Seeing that they have made it an official dispute and it requires negotiations to have these new rules and regulations implemented in a satisfactory way to everybody, will the Minister initiate consultations?
: The employment practices are at health board level but so far as a national statutory regulation, particularly relating to the Employment Equality Act, in which I, not merely as Minister for Health but in my former trade union capacity, must——
: I heard the Minister once say in this House that an Act can be an Act and all that but the spirit of the Act and its implementation is often just as important as the words of the statute.
: When workers in any industry claim that they are being discriminated against or are likely to be discriminated against by an employer in relation to the provisions of statutory regulations for health legislation at national level, the employer must comply. In that regard, the CEO of the Western Health Board is endeavouring to ensure compliance. It is of importance that the union concerned and the nurses directly involved should appreciate the absolute and total limitation on me and the health board in relation to this matter. This is not in a sense an industrial dispute regarding subjective matters, it is an industrial dispute relating to promotional practices between men and women in employment under the Employment Equality Act and the claim of certain women to equality of promotion.
: This is being done without consultation or negotiation.
: I assure the Deputy I have no desire to be in any way provocative nor have I been. I earnestly hope that objective and mature judgment on an industrial relations basis will be brought to bear on a difficult situation because the traditions of promotional practices in the service have been very well established but they are being called into question now and they must be implemented in accordance with the law.
: Will the Minister bring his good offices to bear on the dispute?
: My good offices have been discharged today.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 3 May 1983.