Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Under Standing Order No. 36, I welcome the Minister for Finance. I call Deputy Pearse Doherty.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Seo Rialtas a chruthaigh arís agus arís eile go gcuireann sé airgead na gcáiníocóirí amú. Tá róchaiteachas de €1.5 billiún feicthe againn ó thaobh Ospidéal Náisiúnta na Leanaí. Chaith an Rialtas €336,000 ar shed na rothar, €1.4 milliún don bhothán slándála agus sa sampla is moille den Rialtas ag cur airgead na gcáiníocóirí amú, tá sé i gceist ag an Rialtas €9 milliún a chaitheamh ar pouches do ghutháin phóca. Tá gnáthdhaoine na tíre seo ag ceistiú má tá an plot caillte ag an Rialtas seo. Seo sampla eile de Rialtas nach féidir linn muinín a bheith againn ann ó thaobh airgead na gcáiníocóirí a chaitheamh mar is ceart.

This is a Government that has proven time and again that it plays fast and loose with taxpayers' hard-earned money. We have seen an overspend of €1.5 billion in respect of the National Children's Hospital. The Government has spent €336,000 on the bike shed, €1.4 million on the security hut and in the budget on Tuesday, we saw the latest example of the waste of taxpayer money when the Government announced it would spend €9 million on phone pouches. The ordinary people of Ireland are asking has this Government lost the plot. This is another example of a Government that cannot be trusted with taxpayers' money. When the Minister for Finance sat at the Cabinet table and made this decision, did not one person put their hand up and ask whether the money should be spent on the 100 children with additional needs who still do not have a school place at this point? Did not one Government Minister at the table say that the money should be spent on increasing capitation funding so that schools can actually cover their lighting and heating bills? Did nobody at the Cabinet table put up their hands and say why do we not just ask the kids to leave their phones in their bags? Spending €9 million on phone pouches is grotesque. It is inexcusable, particularly at a time when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have underfunded our schools across the State, with many schools - most of them - struggling to pay electricity and heating costs.

Budgets, as the Minister knows, are all about choices. When the Government chooses to underfund our schools for the basics, it is the parents who pick up the tab. We see this right across the State, with cake sales, race nights, 5km events and voluntary contributions, all to raise money to keep the lights on and pay the bills. If there were ever an example of political parties being in power for far too long drifting further and further out of touch with the realities on the ground, it is the Tánaiste, when he took to social media this week championing the fact the Government is spending €9 million on phone pouches. You could not make this up. Minister, stop the waste. Unlike the bike shed or the €1.4 million security hut, this money has not yet been wasted. Will the Minister please see sense, announce to the people of Ireland that the Government is not going to waste €9 million on phone pouches, and instead put that money into schools so we can pay for the lights, electricity costs, heating costs and other costs that those schools need?

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister, Deputy Foley, announced details of an unprecedented education budget of €11.8 billion. Part of the €9 million which has been allocated for new mobile phone pouches to support schools is to implement a policy which is about mental health, well-being and the dignity of children. Deputy Doherty should never play politics when it comes to the mental health of young people-----

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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It is a cover up.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----or of children in schools in our communities.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Hear, hear.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The investment in children's welfare, mental health and dignity at school is never a waste of money. If this helps one young person in a school who has had difficulties, for example, with the use of mobile phones in schools, is it not a progressive and practical initiative to help support young people and their learning in schools? This policy is underpinned by clear evidence internationally. The UN and many European and other jurisdictions are demonstrating that this a research-based initiative. The initiative is supported by parents of children all over our country, building on the success of the Keeping Childhood Smartphone Free initiative.

As the Minister, Deputy Foley, outlined this week, schools will have the authority to decide what phone storage options they will have. The international research on smartphones is incontrovertible and clearly demonstrates that students perform better when they take a break from their mobile phones. We are ensuring that students have a break away from their mobile phones to help their learning and their well-being in schools. Deputy Doherty should not play populist, shallow and divisive politics when it comes to the mental health of young people.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Nonsense.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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That is the purpose of this investment. If you take it in the context of our wider investment in education through this budget, we are investing €2.9 billion in special education, we are extending the provision of free schoolbooks to all students in the senior cycle and a €75 million increase to capitation funding. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has secured that but she is also cognisant of the concerns of parents across the country when it comes to the use of smartphones in schools. This is a practical measure to give effect to the policy which has been introduced in jurisdictions across the world. It is a great pity that Sinn Féin will not take the time to study this initiative before going to its stock position which is to attack everything. Anger and attack is Sinn Féin's policy, not constructive politics and trying to give a practical outworking of a solution when it comes to the use of mobile phones in schools. Has Sinn Féin listened to the parents whose children have been impacted-----

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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We did, yes.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----by the enormous damage caused by smartphone use during the day? This will make an impact and a difference. We should never play politics when it comes to the investment in our young people and in initiatives that will help their mental health and well-being. That is what is at the centre of this initiative that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has sought to do.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Is the Minister for real? Seriously? Talk to any parent out there who has a child with mental health difficulties and show me one of them who says their priority, instead of getting somebody who will help them, is getting a magnetic phone pouch that is going to cost the State €9 million?

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister's Government has underfunded mental health for years. Do not try and wrap this vanity project up as some of way of supporting hard-pressed parents who know that their children are being let down over and over again. If the Minister wants to ban mobile phones, tell the kids to leave them in their pockets. Do not spend €9 million on pouches. It makes no sense at a time when schools are struggling and when mental health services are struggling. The Government has dressed this up as something that it is not. Does the Minister seriously think that any child who is self-harming at this point in time, who cannot get support from the mental health services - where they are underfunded across the State - that the priority for their parents is a phone pouch? The Minister is living in cloud cuckoo land if he genuinely believes this. Just like the bike shed and security hut, stop the waste. Fund proper services.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Put the €9 million, if you want, into the services that parents are demanding and screaming out for with regard to mental health supports.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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We need therapists, people who can see them, instead of waiting not only for months, but in some cases for years to see a practitioner.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Again, Sinn Féin's populist politics is driven by anger, with a shallow attack on an initiative that will make a difference. This is part of a wider well-being and mental health policy in schools. If Deputy Doherty looked at all the international research from the UN and others, this makes a difference when it is being introduced.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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You have not said anything about-----

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Smartphone bans in schools have an impact on young people's mental health.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Do not spend €9 million.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said previously, an investment in children's welfare, in their mental health and well-being in schools is not a waste of money.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is not talking about the phone pouches.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is beside me. She has secured record funding over the last five years - a 43% increase in funding for our mental health services across the country. We are supporting the improved recruitment within our mental health services in community health organisations across our country. Complementing this initiative is an unprecedented investment in our health system to support the growth of our mental health services. Sinn Féin should not go back to its stock position of attacking initiatives which will make a difference.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is waste. I will attack waste every single day.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please, Deputy.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin is a party that looks to spend day in day out. In all budgetary positions outlined in the pre-budget submissions, it is a party policy defined by more spending on everything.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Not waste, not the bike sheds, or the phone pouches.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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In fact, that is Sinn Féin's pre-budget submission on all issues.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It is high spending. This is a policy to protect children, to protect their mental health and well-being in schools. It is disappointing to see Sinn Féin attack an initiative that will make a difference.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Recently the Minister’s party leader claimed the Social Democrats believe Ireland is a failed state. It seems as if he was literally making stuff up and saying it on national radio. I have always acknowledged the country's many positives and successes and I have consistently pointed out the profound sense of disconnect many people have as a result of that. This is a disconnect between a GDP that makes us one of the richest countries in the world and nearly 4,500 children growing up in emergency accommodation; a disconnect between full employment and 500,000 adults living in their childhood bedrooms; and a disconnect between a €24 billion surplus and nearly 600,000 people living in poverty. No, we are not a failed State but the Government is failing far too many people and that failure is not inevitable. It is not an accident either. It is a product of political choices that have been made at Cabinet tables in this Government and previous Governments, political choices about what to spend money on and how much, political choices that led to a 15% increase in the number of children experiencing deprivation last year alone, political choices that led to disability services becoming threadbare and dysfunctional, political choices that resulted in a failure to meet social and affordable housing targets every single year and political choices that have set us up to fail when it comes to meeting our climate targets.

This week’s budget was also full of choices about what to prioritise and what issues were deemed not so important. I listened to the Minister for the last few minutes trying to defend the €9 million that was allocated to schools to buy phone pouches. This was done because, fair enough, the Minister for Education wants schools to ban phones but she does not have the power to do that. We can all agree on the need to prioritise mental health and children's mental health but to prioritise phone pouches with regard to that does not make a whole lot of sense to most people. This is €9 million spent on a pet project that schools were not crying out for. It is a lot of money and could have done some real good. That €9 million could have been used to invest in special schools. There is not a single special school in my constituency of Cork South-West. The money could have been used to fund therapists in St. Killian’s Special School in Mayfield, which was promised supports from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, that never materialised. There have been no occupational therapists, speech and language therapists or behavioural therapists in that special school or any other since 2020 when Fianna Fáil entered government. The Tánaiste said he disagreed with the decision that resulted in therapists being removed from schools. Well a Fianna Fáil Minister holds that brief, a Fianna Fáil TD is the disability Minister and Deputy Chambers is the Minister for Finance. What has been done about it? Nothing, as far as I can see while children with additional needs are repeatedly failed - failed not by anonymous systems but by political choices. Does the Minister at the very least accept that his Government has failed these children with additional needs?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the difficulties many families face when it comes to accessing therapies, supports and assessments of need in communities across the country. This is something I see in my constituency office. I know all of us collectively share the priority in trying to advance progress when it comes to people with additional needs and disabilities.

The Deputy referenced what the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has sought to advance in budget 2025. There has been an unprecedented investment of €11.8 billion in education and schools in budget 2025. The education budget contains €2.9 billion of funding for special education, which will make a difference for those with additional needs and support the provision of additional places and progress for many families and children. The provision of free school books to all students in the senior cycle makes a difference when it comes to the affordability of education across our school system. There has been a €75 million increase in capitation funding, which supports schools and communities across our country that need improved core budgets. There is over €100 million in additional funding for the school transport system and there are 1,600 more SNAs and 750 additional special education teachers. That makes a difference for students with additional needs, particularly in the special education area. This is why we have sought to advance that in the context of budget 2025.

The Deputy referenced the investment in mobile phone pouches. As I said to Deputy Doherty, this is about investing in wider support for mental health and well-being in schools. We need a practical outworking to this initiative. Parents have reflected concerns about this at second level for many years. This enables schools to implement such a policy by supporting them.

The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, has been steadfast in securing a much greater disability budget. If we look at the investment in disability since 2019, we can see it has increased by 52%. There is a clear commitment on the part of this Government to help support those with disabilities and their families. Not only are we speaking about the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, we are ensuring that the increase in spending is delivering real improvements in the lives of children with additional needs. This year, there is a record €3.2 billion of funding in the disability area. There is a focus on assessments of need, therapies and ensuring we recruit the front-line staff, who do make a difference. I recognise that the wait times for many children with disabilities are too long in communities across our country and that they are not getting the level of intervention they require but the investment and the prioritisation from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, will increase the number of front-line workers in the CDNTs, which will help through the budget we have allocated.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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The Taoiseach told disabled people that they would feel seen in this budget and in his reply, the Minister said we all share the feeling that it needs to be prioritised. Does the Minister genuinely think that children and their families who are waiting to access CDNTs feel prioritised or seen in this budget? Does he think that the people who hoped that the motorised transport grant for disabled people that was axed over a decade ago might be reintroduced in this budget feel seen? We have the lowest employment rates for disabled people in Europe. Does the Minister think those people feel seen in this budget? Was anything done for them? Does he think that disabled people who will get the one-off payment feel seen when someone has a disability for 365 days of the year? Does he think that is an attempt by this Government to prioritise disabled people or make them feel seen?

When we got the budget announcement last year, we heard from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, that there was an allocation of €195.1 million. The then Minister for Finance at the time, Michael McGrath, said it was €200 million. After the journalist Ailbhe Conneely examined it a bit more closely and got answers from the Department, it turned out that it was actually only an additional €64 million. Can the Minister give me an exact figure of how much of the figure he highlighted is actually additional funding this year or will we have to leave it up to journalists to establish the reality of the allocation for disability this year?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said in my previous answer, this year's budget is a record €3.2 billion, which is an increase of 11.6% on 2024. That has been set out to me by the Department involved. What this will result in is further progress on many of the initiatives established by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. In the first half of this year, regarding the waiting lists initiative, there has been improvement in the number of assessments of need completed, which is a 28% increase on the same period last year. Regional hubs have been established across the country and are operational and there is strong oversight from the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, to ensure there is delivery and much greater progress in terms of oversight with all of the various CHO teams across the country.

Through this budget, there will be further progress for people with disabilities this year and next year. We have a substantial cost-of-living package complemented by core social protection allocations from the Minister for Social Protection that are very specifically focused on people with disabilities, their carers and their families. This Government wants to do more, particularly to support improvement in front-line interventions for those who have been waiting too long.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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Today I wish to raise the urgent need for an elective surgery hub at Midlands General Hospital in Tullamore. This is an issue I have been raising locally since March and I also sought a meeting with the Minister for Health at the time. I received a letter from a senior member of the medical team at the hospital that highlighted the issue around this case.

At the time, the hospital was inundated with trauma patients, leading to a situation where the facility had zero capacity to offer elective surgery for knee or hip replacement procedures. It had no access to an elective ward because it had to accommodate and facilitate emergencies that were pouring in through the emergency department. This is entirely unacceptable as the volume of patients being seen at Midland Regional Hospital has increased 40% year on year. By any objective analysis, this is a huge volume for a model 3 hospital.

The core of the problem resides in the fact that there has been no meaningful roll-out or increase in elective surgery capacity in Tullamore or the midlands for the last decade. While the staff at Midland Regional Hospital are working heroically to meet the level of demand, and I commend them on all they are doing, unfortunately, it is clear that they have hit a wall and unless there is improved capacity is put into the system, things will only get worse for local patients who will continue to be sent to other counties to access basic services through the National Treatment Purchase Fund.

I am also aware that Midland Regional Hospital has seen a 29% increase in attendances by people over 75 years compared with the same period last year. As a result, the emergency department has been under significant and ongoing pressure. Scheduled care activity has also been impacted as a result of this increased demand.

This is a major problem with a very clear and simple solution, that is, to provide a commitment to the people of Tullamore and the Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore to provide a dedicated elective surgery hub to the benefit of all in the midlands region. Without this solution, the knock-on impact to service provision and delayed care will continue to get only worse. The Government has just announced one of the largest ever budgets for the health service. What fraction of that allocation will be directed to Tullamore hospital? Will consideration be given to an elective surgery hub?

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and others have secured record levels of investment in our health system. This is making a difference for patients, families and communities across our country. Over €25 billion is being spent in 2025. The recent budget will see a further €180 million in new measures, including support for cancer care, cardiovascular and stroke care as well as rare diseases. The impact of this investment in healthcare by the Government is seen in the very significant achievements Ireland has made in the last decade in health outcomes. We are among a small group of only seven EU countries where life expectancy is above 82 years, and we are seeing the impact of that across a number of metrics.

We know we have to do more, which is why the Minister for Health has set out a very ambitious capital plan to address the demand for surgery and an elective plan within that. He has set out the development of four elective hospitals at two sites in Dublin, one in Connolly and one at the children’s hospital in Crumlin, one in Cork and one in Galway. Surgical hubs are also being delivered in Cork, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. This complements the wider focus of the Government on the primary care system, with many patients who would have otherwise presented to emergency departments being triaged through community healthcare and supported through the community health service with chronic disease management and a whole other range of areas.

We have also increased bed capacity. We have constructed over 1,000 new and replacement community-based beds throughout the country. Budget 2025 provided funding for 160 new community beds and 455 upgraded community beds. It is planned to provide an additional 3,000 new hospital beds and 350 replacement beds by 2031.

The Government is providing unprecedented resources supporting the recruitment of front-line workers in healthcare, including doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, while also addressing the capital needs in our health system with a changing demographic. The Minister is advancing that through acute hospitals, some of which are in the midlands region, through the wider provision of new beds in the hospital groups.

The Minister will be able to provide detail on further plans on the Deputy’s specific question on an elective hospital for the midlands. I have set out the briefing I have received on the various surgical hubs and also the elective capacity planned, which has a good regional spread. It is important that patients in the midlands and elsewhere have access to improved elective care. In future, our overall capital investment will ensure we have a greater number of elective beds in the hospital system, so that the acute hospital system can manage the presentations that occur day to day. This will allow greater certainty for patients who are waiting for elective care on an ongoing basis.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. He mentioned record levels of investment but we need to see more investment in Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore. It is disappointing that the Minister for Health did not respond to my request to work constructively with him and have a meeting with him on this very serious issue. Health is important. When elderly patients cannot access care at their local hospital we know there is a problem. When senior medical members of a team are flagging to their TD that there is a problem there is a problem. It is not just me saying there is a problem. The medical staff are saying it and elderly patients who cannot access local care are telling me there is an issue and they have to go to other counties for elective surgery. That is wrong. I hope the Minister for Health will respond constructively and give me the opportunity I have sought to meet him about this issue because it cannot be ignored.

I commend again the excellent staff at every level in Midland Regional Hospital who have worked tirelessly to help patients. They reduced waiting lists again last year for the second year in a row. I commend them on that but that was partly because patients were forced to go to other counties for care. I hope the situation will change and the Government will show more political will and be constructive by listening to other TDs who are only trying to do their best and do the right thing by the electorate.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Deputy about the huge amount of work that front-line staff do across our hospital system. I commend them on the work they do in difficult circumstances.

The Government’s investment in healthcare is achieving outcomes. There is faster access to services, with numbers of people on trolleys in the first eight months of the year down by 11%, for example. That demonstrates the commitment and ongoing progress we are seeing in our health system. There has been enormous progress in Tullamore and the midlands group on with regard to the numbers of patients on trolleys, for example. This demonstrates the impact of investment and the unprecedented resources provided for the recruitment of front-line staff is having. Similarly, there are plans for further staff recruitment in the Midland Regional Hospital group and Tullamore for next year. That builds on the progress we have made as regards the trolley count in Tullamore, for example, where we are seeing an impact in wait times. We have more to do, however. That is why in the budget, the Minister is keen to complement the investment in front-line health workers with capital investment for the future and thousands more beds being developed right across the country in the coming years.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I have been dealing with the case of Marianne Byrne, a worker at the Cobh Heritage Centre in Cork. Marianne is a low-paid worker who has given 26 years of dedicated service. She was offered a 50 cent per hour increase by her employer after 16 years without a pay increase. Colleagues in a similar position were given raises of €1.50 an hour. Cobh Heritage Centre justified this paltry offer by saying Marianne had received a €2 pay increase 15 years ago. You could not make this up. Marianne was represented by Unite the Union at the Workplace Relations Commission and won a recommendation for an 85 cent raise to match the living wage. The board of management of the Cobh Heritage Centre, which relies on public finance and support, has been refusing to implement the recommendation since 8 May this year.

It is a blatant and disrespectful disregard by the board of the Cobh Heritage Centre. It did not even plead inability to pay at the hearing of the case and it gave the case to The HR Suite, a private company, to represent it at the Workplace Relations Commission. This is simply not good enough. Marianne's Unite the Union representative, Eoin Drummey, has written to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and to the Tánaiste on her behalf stating that this refusal not only perpetuates the mistreatment of a long-standing female employee on low pay but also undermines the authority of the WRC and the principles of fair and just employment practices which it upholds. It is unacceptable that a State-sponsored and supported entity should fail to rectify a situation that has caused significant hardship for Ms Byrne over several years. There has been no reply or even acknowledgement from either the Minister or the Tánaiste.

It cannot be accepted that a service which relies on State funding undermines the WRC and refuses to pass on an 85 cent pay rise recommendation for a long-standing worker. I have made other representations on other occasions on behalf of Unite the Union and other unions for low-paid workers, particularly in relation to workers in voluntary and State-funded organisations. Ireland has one of the highest incidence of low pay in the EU. Not enough is being done for these workers. The very least the Government can do is to ensure that State-funded organisations are passing on WRC adjudications. Cobh Heritage Centre relies on State funding but is refusing to pass on a WRC recommendation and justifies this by reference to a pay increase 15 years ago and has ultimately failed to pay its workers a living wage. What can the Minister and the Government do to step in here? He can ensure that Marianne gets the pay rise she deserves and can ensure that the WRC is not being undermined by an organisation funded and supported by the State.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Collins very much for her question. I obviously cannot comment on a specific WRC case or something that is subject to legal proceedings and I acknowledge, as the Deputy has said, that the case has been through the WRC and that there has been interaction between the worker and Cobh Heritage Centre. The Government is committed to supporting low-paid workers in our economy. That is why the national minimum wage will increase to €13.50 per hour from 1 January 2025, where an estimated 195,300 workers will directly benefit from this increase. The Government accepted the recommendation of the Low Pay Commission because of that. That demonstrates our wider commitment to progress a living wage in our economy. It is also important to acknowledge the wider footprint we have brought through on workers rights, not only on the national living wage but also on the introduction of a statutory sick pay entitlement for all workers in January 2023, which is making a difference to workers in the economy.

I am conscious, however, that the questions the Deputy has raised are specific to a particular worker and I obviously cannot comment here in the Dáil on any individual case and have to be careful in what I say in response to it. I will reflect on what the Deputy has said to the respective Ministers who have received correspondence on that. They will have to judge what is appropriate in any response, given what the case has been through and there are ongoing legal proceedings.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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I thank the Minister but I am not very happy with that response. He refers to this being a specific WRC case. The case has been adjudicated upon. The centre has been told to pay Marianne the 85 cent extra, that is €14.85 per hour. That has gone through and it has been done. What I am raising is that we have a public body not implementing the WRC adjudication. If one has public bodies which are not doing it, we will certainly see private bodies which will not recognise any WRC recommendation. It is an absolute scandal. I am asking the Minister and the Government to intervene to ensure that public bodies implement WRC adjudications on cases referred to the WRC. The fact is that the State provides the Workplace Relations Commission as a statutory body to assist in resolving workplace disputes and complaints. This service is fully funded by the public through the Exchequer and its decisions should be implemented promptly by all employers, particularly those receiving public funding. I want a commitment that the Minister will step in here to ensure that Cobh Heritage Centre, as a public body, will implement that pay increase as recommended by the WRC.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I am obviously not familiar with the specifics of the case or the particular structure of that company or how it is funded through the respective Departments. I will reflect on what she has said to the line Ministers who may provide funding to that particular entity. They will obviously have to judge what is appropriate in the context of what the service level agreement might be. It is important in our economy that we protect workers and the WRC plays an important role in that context. I will reflect on what the Deputy has said but obviously I am not aware of what the status of the relationship is between the Department and that particular company or what the corporate status is but if there is a service level agreement, the Department will be able to reflect on what the Deputy has said and on perhaps the correspondence it has received. I will also reflect what the Deputy has said today.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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The centre was able to pay a private company to represent it, is able to pay other workers a pay increase but it will not implement the WRC adjudication.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy and the Minister. That concludes Leaders' Questions.