Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 March 2018
11. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to review the status of pay inequality across the whole public sector in view of the shortage of teachers and health staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13010/18]
Amharc ar fhreagra37. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his views on whether the shortages of staff across the public sector can be attributed to low pay and to pay inequality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13006/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe shocking record figures for people on trolleys over recent weeks were further evidence of an unacceptable crisis in the health service. Once again, nurses, doctors and medical experts said we need more beds and to have those we need more nurses. We also need more teachers. The Government cannot recruit them because it is not paying them properly and one of the problems is that new entrants are paid less.
As already discussed, I submitted a report examining the remaining salary scale issues in respect of post 2011 new entrants on Friday last. While I have outlined the proposed next steps on foot of the report, I would like to take this opportunity to share some of the findings in that report. The Deputy asks about low pay and whether this is resulting in staff shortages, particularly in health and education. It seems to be popular in some quarters to assert that the public service no longer represents an attractive career option, that there is a crisis in recruitment and a continuing focus on the difficulties within the public service.
My concern is that much of this can be counterproductive. The truth is that the public service is a good employer by any objective measurement. Public service offers a comprehensive set of terms and conditions, flexible working arrangements, decent pension provisions, fair wages that increase over time and secure employment. While public service is a career choice, and people who serve are highly motivated by the public good, the competitiveness of the package on offer can be seen in the strong level of recruitment that this report has highlighted.
Headline public service numbers already show a high level of recruitment of over 29,000 since 2013. However, this is the growth in the overall public service and as such it does not capture recruitment "below the line", replacing retirements and leavers.
The report I submitted last Friday, however, sheds light on this, revealing that over 60,500 people have been recruited in the "new entrant" grades since 2011. This represents almost a fifth of the current public service including over 16,000 teachers, 5,000 special needs assistants and almost 10,000 nurses.
The problem is that in many cases, and certainly in nursing, as many nurses are leaving as are being recruited. I had a long conversation with Phil Ní Sheaghdha of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, last week who pointed out that in 2016 the State recruited 2,573 nurses but 2,271 left in the same period. The net recruitment for the health service where there is a dire capacity problem and we need thousands more nurses, is a tiny few more. She pointed out that in 2008 someone at point 1 on the staff nurse scale got €31,875 a year. Today, almost ten years later, that person gets €28,768, almost €3,000 less when accommodation costs have gone through the roof. Someone at point 5 earned €38,000 in 2008 but today earns €34,000. Is it any wonder we cannot recruit the nurses - I have not even begun to discuss the teachers – if their wages are less than they were ten years ago and the cost of living has gone through the roof?
What the Deputy does not take account of is the fact that there have been significant increases in recruitment, including in frontline services since 2011. He referred to a recruitment crisis. I point to the fact that over 60,000 more public servants have been recruited.
In response to his concerns about salary levels and retention he does not take account of the fact that we are in the early part of a new three-year collective agreement. I remember when the Deputy challenged me in the House to say collective agreements would be undermined, that it would be very difficult to maintain them in the future. As of this week there is a collective agreement for three years that virtually all unions or representative bodies in this country are either in or associated with. That agreement is in place to deliver wage growth for our public servants. That is why the Public Service Pay Commission is specifically inquiring into nursing and will report in the summer.
Some unions signed up to those agreements because they thought they were the best they could get but they are not happy about it. Many unions did not sign up to those agreements because they consider it completely unacceptable to have a pay apartheid whereby people who happen to be recruited after 2011 and 2012, and who over the course of their lifetime will earn maybe €100,000 less than somebody doing exactly the same job just because they happen to be recruited afterwards. That is the difference between being able to buy a house and not. Nurses, teachers and others working in the public service are part of the housing crisis, whereas decades ago, in the 1970s, a teacher or a nurse could at least hope to get a mortgage and buy a house. Is it any wonder that there is a capacity problem in the health service and we are having difficulty getting teachers? The Minister can quote all the figures he likes but there are shortages. That is why the Government cannot open the beds. The Minister for Health has acknowledged this.
I can quote all the figures I want, to quote the Deputy, because these are the figures. These are the changes, these are facts.
What about all the ones who are leaving?
This is what has happened. The report takes account of change that has happened as people exit.
However, when I put facts to the Deputy he dismisses them if they do not fit into his narrative. We recognise the contribution our public servants have made and the concerns that exist, in particular in regard to our health service where we now have a specific module of work under way. The Public Service Pay Commission will report during the summer. In respect of hospital beds, I have accepted the capacity report on acute hospital bed provision published by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, some weeks ago. It lays out the need for an additional 2,300 hospital beds within our public service. We will make progress across the coming budgets in delivering those additional beds.
