Vol. 495 No. 2
52 Mr. Shatter asked the Minister for Finance if he has issued guidelines to the Department of Health and Children on the pay issues arising from the nursing commission's report; if the Government is prepared to use the State's industrial relations machinery to resolve these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19594/98]
The Minister for Health and Children has already indicated that the Government is accepting the broad thrust of the report of the Commission on Nursing and that he wishes to talk to the nursing unions about a partnership approach to its implementation.
As far as the specific pay issues referred to in the report are concerned, the Government's position is that these can be dealt with in a way that is consistent with the direction set down in the Taoiseach's address to the social partners last July.
Following the publication of the commission's report, the nursing unions decided to refer one of the three pay issues involved to the Labour Court and to refer the other two issues to the Labour Relations Commission. Subsequently, on 25 September 1998, the Government announced that if health services management were invited to attend the Labour Court or the Labour Relations Commission, they would accept the invitation.
I understand that such invitations have recently been received by the Health Service Employers' Agency and that health services management will be attending the Labour Court hearing and the Labour Relations Commission conciliation conference.
I must emphasise, however, that management will be continuing to reiterate the Government's position that these issues can be dealt with in the context of the Taoiseach's initiative but only in that context. The Government remains of the view that nurses' pay cannot be divorced from public service pay policy generally and that to attempt to deal with it in any other context would run the substantial risk of leading towards a destabilising return of leapfrogging special increases to restore traditional relativities.
