Donegal Deputy Pearse Doherty told Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today that he must engage with Union representatives of nurses and midwives who are set to launch strike action this month.
Members of the INMO are due to commence industrial action on 30th January, with a series of 24-hour stoppages planned over the coming weeks in a dispute over pay and staff shortages.
During Leaders’ Questions today (Tuesday), Sinn Féin Deputy Doherty challenged the Taoiseach to give nurses and midwives a fair deal to end the dispute.
Deputy Doherty said: “Strike action is the last thing that nurses and midwives – or any medical professional for that matter – wants to have to undertake Taoiseach, but our nurses and midwives have been forced to undertake such action as a result of the ignorance, arrogance, and ineptitude of you and your government.
“Nurses, midwives and their Unions have continuously sought proper engagement with the Minister for Health, as well as the Minister for Finance, to address the problem of staff shortages, as well pay issues, to avert industrial action but their concerns have been routinely ignored.”
Deputy Doherty accused Mr Varadkar of disengaging from the issue, while hospital staff have ‘acted in a responsible and mature manner’.
He said: “Nurses and midwives deserve our full support in their demand for a better health service that treats them as essential, skilled workers with dignity and value.
“For years now, nurses and midwives and their Unions have offered up realistic proposals to try and address it.
“In April last year, the Dáil also passed a Sinn Féin motion calling for the introduction of recruitment and retention measures based on realistic proposals which prioritise pay.
“Will you now concede that you have failed to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis Taoiseach? Will you accept that pay is an issue that needs to be addressed?
“Will you now commit to a proper engagement with Unions so that our nurses and midwives get what they deserve – a fair deal?”
Elsewhere, talks between health service management and unions ended without resolution today.
