Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 June 2023
32. Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he is planning any new measures in budget 2024 to address the recruitment and retention difficulties across key areas of the public sector; specifically healthcare, home care, the Garda, the military and firefighters; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31361/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI ask the Minister if he is planning any new measures in budget 2024 to address the recruitment and retention difficulties across key areas of the public sector, specifically healthcare, home care, the Garda, the military and firefighters, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Between 2015 and 2022, the estimated number of workers within our public sector increased by almost one fourth, from 302,000 to 377,311. According to the latest data available, by the end of 2022, public service numbers had increased by 3.1% over the numbers at the end of 2021. The public service is a good employer and continues to offer competitive pay and other terms and conditions to attract and retain staff, including flexible working arrangements, pension provision and secure employment. In the case of recruitment policy for which I have policy responsibility, my Department works closely with the Public Appointments Service and other Departments to achieve the objectives set out by the Civil Service Renewal 2024 Action Plan to ensure that the State remains an employer of choice.
As the Deputy will be aware, discussions took place last year between the parties to the Building Momentum agreement that resulted in a set of proposals put forward by the Workplace Relations Commission to extend Building Momentum for a period of 12 months to the end of 2023, making it a three-year pay agreement. The extension acknowledges the higher than anticipated rates of inflation that have emerged since 2021 and the impact of cost-of-living pressures. Three additional pay adjustments totalling 6.5% were provided for under the extension. The initial Building Momentum agreement provided headline benefits of 3%. With the extension, headline benefits over the lifetime of the agreement amount to 9.5%, or just over 3% per year. Given that this agreement will conclude at the end of 2023, I expect that engagement will get under way in the coming period on the potential for a successor agreement. As is always the case, such an agreement will need to strike a balance between providing for wage adjustments and ensuring we can continue to fund them in an affordable way.
As the Minister knows, budget 2024 is just around the corner. Last year, under budget 2023, I welcomed the recruitment of 1,000 new gardaí. Can the Minister give an update on the situation?
The number of vacancies for doctors, nurses, consultants and social workers is alarming. We cannot afford to lose the professionals. What is the Minister doing to retain them and increase recruitment? Our Defence Forces are at the lowest level ever with 7,500 personnel in the Army. That is very low. What is the Minister doing to increase that? We are finding it very hard to get carers because the HSE is refusing to engage them. It will not say what it means by a living wage. It is refusing to pay them for travel time and mileage. Then there is retention among our firefighters. The amount has been €8,500 for many years and it is a long time since they got an increase. Those are some of the alarming issues. Will the Minister give an update on those five particular areas, please?
The other side of the coin is that we have never had more people in work than we have now and we have never had a bigger public service. As I said a few moments ago, our public service has grown by over one quarter. In health, we have more than 20,000 more full-time equivalents working in the health service than we had before the pandemic. The sheer growth and our successful efforts to recruit so many people into the public service does not point to a significant recruitment problem. I do accept that for many who are working in the public service, with all that is changing in the cost of living and with an economy that is doing so well with so many people at work, they do feel acute pressure with regard to their living standards and the impact of inflation on their ability to look after themselves. I acknowledge that but that is why we have a wage agreement in place that we brokered and reached at a time of some uncertainty and it is why I also hope to be in a position to reach agreement on a new wage agreement a little later in the year.
The population is growing and our older people are living longer which is fantastic but there is cause for alarm as waiting lists are starting to creep back up and we are short of professional people. Other countries are coming to Ireland to try to take them away. We have to do something to keep them here. As I said, the Defence Forces are at their lowest numbers ever. Trying to get people to care for elderly people at home is difficult. There is something wrong there and the HSE will not engage them. They are having trouble with travel times. Then there are our firefighters. The last thing anyone wants is to have a fire in their house and wonder what they are going to do. Half of them were out on strike recently and there is a reason for that. There is a lot of public support for them. The Government has done a good enough job over the past 12 years but it is important that it does not take its foot off the pedal. I am saying to the Minister, who has responsibility for public expenditure, that these are areas where we are having problems. Older people need a better health system. If they get sick they need to go to a hospital or doctor. The GP situation is very alarming. We do a fantastic job of training people in our public service professions. It is important that we keep them in the country.
I fully appreciate the importance of the points that the Deputy is making. The difficulties we have retaining staff can impact on the care we look to make available to citizens and particularly to our very youngest and oldest. However, I would still make the point that overall we have a public service that is a lot bigger than it was a few years ago. That points to the success we have in recruiting and that the public service is still seen as a really good employer, legitimately, by many who are looking to join and stay within it. In recognition of the different issues the Deputy has raised I have little doubt that they will be a big part of the discussions we will have later in the year to, I hope, be able to reach agreement on a successor to Building Momentum. I appreciate that the Deputy is raising serious matters but we have a public sector that is growing and that points to the success of our ability to recruit and not to a failure.
