Rose Conway-Walsh condemns 'circle of greed' over pay move
Rose Conway-Walsh criticised a late-night push to regularise salaries, calling the process "devious" and "absolutely disgusting". She argued the measure benefited high earners while care assistants on minimum wage lacked PPE and support.
Key details
Rose Conway-Walsh described a move on Wednesday night at 11 o'clock to push the measure through as the most devious thing she had witnessed. She said the "money tree" had landed "firmly in the circle of greed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens."
Pay regularisation criticised
She accepted that the situation "must be regularised" but questioned why salaries could not be equalised by bringing the higher two down to match. She highlighted her disgust that someone getting "over 2,000 euro a week" would be treated as if that were insufficient while others struggle.
Frontline workers and PPE concerns
Rose Conway-Walsh contrasted the pay decision with the situation of care assistants, noting many are on the minimum wage or below and lacked PPE earlier in the pandemic. She said those care workers sat by the beds of dying patients and often went home crying because they had not been provided with protective gear.
Demand for accountability
She urged those who voted for the measure to feel shame, calling the decision "absolutely disgusting" and condemning the perceived prioritisation of pay rises for higher earners over support for vulnerable workers.
We publish thousands of recordings to make Irish politics transparent and resistant to manipulation. Spotted an error? Report it — together we are building a reliable archive of Irish politics.
I'm absolutely disgusted at what's gone on here today. I am a new TD into this house but what I've seen come through on Wednesday night at 11 o'clock to try and push this thing through is the most devious thing that I have witnessed to date. This government talks about 22 million trees a year to tackle climate change and I'm not quite sure how they're going to do that. But what I know for certain is that the money tree has landed firmly. in the circle of greed between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens. And it is absolutely appalling, as so was said. The only excuse that has come up with is that it must be regularised. Absolutely it must be regularised. But why not bring down the salaries of the other two to match it so that they would be the same? And we talked about frontline workers. And the care assistants. The care assistants who are on the minimum wage and some of them even aren't on the minimum wage. And they are the people who sat by the beds of the people who are dying without any PPE gear. Because we couldn't afford to give it to them. We couldn't afford to provide them with the PPE gear that they were begging for. They are the same people that went home crying every night. And we sit here and we say that somebody getting over 2,000 euro a week, it isn't enough for them. Well, if it's not enough for them, there's other people that it would be quite adequate for. We tell people applying for Susie, we tell the families, no, you're 5 euro over. Sorry, nothing here for you. Nothing for you today. You're 5 euro over. And we go and we do something like this. It is absolutely disgusting. And everybody who votes for this should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Thank you for downloading 🙏
If you publish this material on social media, we would be very grateful if you tagged VideoParliament. It helps us reach more people and keep building a transparent archive of Irish politics.
