Joan Burton
Ceist:11. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform last met. [8526/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 1 March 2017
Ceisteanna (11, 12, 13)
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:12. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform last met. [8776/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Micheál Martin
Ceist:13. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform last met. [9999/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (11 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 13, inclusive, together.
The answer here is that the Cabinet committee on social policy and public service reform last met on 6 February. Sin an freagra.
What is the situation regarding terms and conditions of employment in the public service or publicly owned companies? Specifically, has the Cabinet sub-committee met to discuss the deteriorating situation in the terms and conditions of employment at Bus Éireann and the threat that this poses to social services, given people's need, particularly in rural Ireland, to have a bus service on which they can rely? People who work in Bus Éireann should not be reduced to the minimum wage. Given the important job that they do throughout the country in providing what is not simply a bus service, but a quality public service, they should not be stripped of their rights, terms and conditions as workers.
The Government should commit to maintaining a quality bus service, via Bus Éireann, for rural areas and the many people there who depend on the service. Has the Cabinet sub-committee met to discuss the matter? The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, is rather hands off, and I understand the Taoiseach must cope with that, but this is just too important an issue for people in rural areas. The Taoiseach proudly represents the west, and as the first Taoiseach from there, he must be able to give us reassurance both on services and proper terms and conditions for workers and bus drivers.
Has the sub-committee discussed the contributory State pension? In 2012, when Deputy Burton was a Minister in the previous Government she made changes to the contributory pension scheme. At the time we were told the new system was fairer and would reward those with more contributions but in reality it has turned out to be a massive rip off with 36,000 pensioners - the number is rising all the time - 22,000 of whom are women, who have lost out very significantly in their pension entitlements. The loss is between €19 and €30 a week. They are devastated to find that out when they reach pension age. To add insult to injury, many contributory pensioners – again mostly women - also experience a further hit. If they brought up their family prior to 1994, and took time out of work, they are affected by the averaging system and lose even more of their pension. That is completely unacceptable. What I want to know is whether the sub-committee has discussed the matter and if it is the intention to reverse the unfair and draconian cuts that affect pensioners, in particular women?
I put it to the Taoiseach that the issue of social dialogue needs to be reflected on again in terms of the need for a proper framework within which public services generally can be debated and industrial strife adequately addressed in the sense of having someone who is looking ahead of the game. There seems to be a complete absence of any framework in terms of engagement with the social partners or considering how we retain standards in public services and enhance and improve them in the future.
The Bus Éireann dispute is one example of a breakdown in such a framework and dialogue. The absence of a proper manpower policy and the decline in human resource capacity in the health service is also reflective of the lack of social dialogue or engagement. The haemorrhaging of people from the health service has been quite dramatic, in particular in terms of nurses and doctors. In some cases it has been catastrophic. There has also been a high turnover of staff.
The Bus Éireann issue has given rise to the fundamental point facing public services in general. Notwithstanding the need for some reform and efficiencies is the fundamental point about getting bus drivers in the public sector down to very basic minimum wage-type conditions? That is the belief. It is not just about the Expressway service. The document that was issued two weeks ago refers to back offices being recentralised, for example. There was reference to eliminating entire tiers of supervisors and inspectors. The changes are much wider than to the Expressway service. There was also reference in the document to redundancies.
All that is happening in the absence of a proper vision or perspective on where we want public services to go. Taking globalisation into account, the big ticket item facing societies all over the world is the fact that incomes are going down. The number of people on low-level incomes is rising as an overall percentage of the working population. Some politicians do not understand the reason for the dissatisfaction and unhappiness that exists but it is basically because of the ongoing downward pressure. That seems to be what is now happening in Bus Éireann as well.
The Taoiseach has three minutes to deal with all the questions.
That is most unsatisfactory, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is impossible to answer all the questions in three minutes.
I know it is but the Taoiseach should do his best.
I accept it is not your doing, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.
The Taoiseach should not have taken seven minutes to answer the first question.
Deputy Boyd Barrett inquired about pensions. That is not dealt with directly by the sub-committee, but the Minister is working on a range of issues in so far as social welfare payments, rights and conditions are concerned. They are all part of the work that must be done in respect of the preparation for the 2018 budget.
Let me say in response to Deputy Micheál Martin that last night we had a meeting with a number of representatives from ICTU and IBEC to discuss the issues that arise both in respect of current situations and the necessity to have a much closer relationship in respect of Brexit and the challenges that exist in that regard. Out of that, for instance, came the requirement to have a detailed discussion on the housing figures in terms of output, skills and the necessity for training so that everybody is fully informed both on the union side and the employer side of the exact scale and where developments are taking place.
There is no intention on the part of the State to drive down public service bus drivers to minimum wage levels. In the Bus Éireann situation, the company has pointed out that it is going to become bankrupt unless some changes are made. That issue relates specifically to the commercial arm of Bus Éireann. The PSO has increased substantially both in respect of Bus Éireann itself and the rural transport scheme, which has increased by 26%. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport is not a member of the committee in question. He is a member of the committee dealing with transport.
The Government progress which was discussed at the committee includes supporting preparations for the introduction of a second preschool year and the new single affordable child care scheme; the development of the new allocation model for resource teachers; the increase in special needs assistant, SNA, provision and supporting the implementation of the DEIS plan for 2017; the work that is under way in the north inner city under the ministerial task force; publication of the action plan for education; the establishment of the Irish refugee protection programme to take in 4,000 people; the introduction of the two-week period of paternity leave and the associated social welfare payments; the implementation of the McMahon report recommendations in respect of direct provision; and the establishment of a youth mental health task force. Those measures are all either completed or work is proceeding on them. Work is also proceeding in respect of a number of key national strategies covering disability inclusion; Traveller and Roma inclusion; the national women’s strategy; the migration integration strategy; and the new national drugs strategy, among others. Those are all serious issues that would require committee meetings to give detailed answers to all the Deputies.
There may be others who are interested in contributing but we must move on as we have exceeded the time for questions to the Taoiseach.