Senator Gerard Craughwell- speech from 1 Dec 2021

Go raibh agat, Cahirleach. Minister, I want to thank you for coming to the House yourself to take this matter. Clearly you regarded it as something important yourself. When I first took my seat in 2014, I was immediately aware of the job of the Seannad secretarial assistant and that it bore little resemblance to the work that secretarial assistants actually do. This was confirmed in a survey in 2017 which showed that Seannad SA's do the same work as parliamentary assistants in the Dáil. They undertake research, speech writing, newsletters, briefing papers and preparing material for committees, amongst other things. Not only is the job of SA a misnomer, but the pay does not compensate for the work they undertake. Currently SA's earn 24,423 per year or 11.75 per hour. This would qualify an SA with one child to avail of working family payment from social welfare to supplement their income. To add insult to injury, it currently takes 18 years to reach the maximum point of the SA scale on contracts that are fixed purpose and will not exceed five years in duration. So we are bringing all these passionate, highly educated and incredibly loyal people to assist us as legislators on temporary contracts with long working hours and we are paying them well below the living wage. In any other sector we would be accused of gross exploitation and rightly vilified for this as a result. What is even worse, Minister, is that we, the employers of SA, have no control over their terms and conditions. You are the only person who can successfully address this. I know in 2018, SIP2 lodged a pay claim on behalf of SA's which called for the introduction of the PA scale on the Shannon and compensation for SA scale so that staff in the Dáil are rewarded for their essential work they do in the Oireachtas. In 2019, myself and other colleagues across the House passed a motion calling on you, Minister, to reform, sorry, public expenditure and reform to meet with the staff union representing this group as a matter of urgency. It is now 2021 and no meeting has ever taken place. I do appreciate that there has been a lot of emergency issues in the meantime. This year SA's in both the Dáil and Shannon were offered a pay increase of 1% in October, 1% in February and 1% in October 2022. This would bring their salary to 25,162 per year or €12.09 per hour, which is still below the working wage and the living wage. This was not acceptable and was rejected totally by the staff and their union, SIP2. More importantly, it failed to address the fundamental issue that the role of an SA has evolved to the level of parliamentary assistant and that the Dáil and Shannon have completely different roles. If a Shannon SA loses her job or his job at the end of an election or after an election, having the job secretarial assistant on their CV, it completely misrepresents the work they have done. Earlier this year, the Cairn Corlin launched the Forum on a family-friendly and inclusive parliament, which is an excellent initiative. However, we know it is impossible to attract a diverse workforce and create truly inclusive workplaces without considering the factors that will encourage retention. I strongly believe salary transparency, pay equity and equal pay for equal work are the fundamental cornerstones in building an inclusive culture in the Oireachtas. SA's acquire a vast amount of proprietary knowledge very quickly and we should be doing everything we can to retain them. Instead, we are exploiting them while they are here. Minister, I know that the Cabinet agreed to publish the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Amendment Bill 2021, which will provide $462.5 million to run the Dáil and Shannon for the next three years. It would be shameful if every aspect of the running of the Parliament was adequately funded, except for the people on whom so many of us depend, the people who are the powerhouses in our office and whose loyalty is beyond question. Minister, as a former leader of a trade union, I could never stand over people being paid different rates for the same work. Minister, it is clear that when I came here, the terms for a Senator had changed as a result of a statutory instrument and I was not able to avail of the traditional part-time work in the Shannon and part-time work in your traditional occupation. It became a full-time job for me and, as such, I am entitled to the same support as any full-time member of the Oireachtas. From that point of view, I can tell you today, without my SA, Jean Webster, my office would not run. I would simply be neutered and unable to do anything. From that point of view, I am asking you today to reverse where we are at. Thank you, Cahíroluc. Thank you again, Minister, for coming into the House this morning on this issue. No problem. Thank you very much, Cahíroluc. I do want to thank you, Senator Crockwell, for raising this issue and to thank you, Cahíroluc, for giving me the opportunity to address the issue here in the House this morning. As a member of the Oireachtas for over 14 years now, I am deeply conscious and appreciative of the extraordinary work carried out by all of our support staff. I see this work up close, day in, day out, and I know that I, for one, could not do the job that I do without the selfless dedication and commitment that I get from my own staff. And I have no doubt that the same is true of every member of this House, as it is in your own case, Senator Crockwell. I also acknowledge, Cahíroluc, that the nature of the work carried out by our staff, and I know in the case of senators that as a secretarial assistant, is unique. They have to deal with a multifaceted set of issues every day, and their role extends far beyond providing what might be generally termed secretarial support. The role of a secretarial assistant is very different now, to what it was even a decade ago, given the rapid changes in the way we communicate and interact with the people we represent. I am also deeply aware that they do not enjoy job security, and in many instances they will no longer have work once the member they work for is not re-elected or indeed retires. Being a politician or working for a politician has many benefits, principally the enjoyment and satisfaction we get from helping people and making a difference, but job security is not one of them. To deal with the specific issue at hand, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act of 2003 provides a limited role for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of the day in determining pay and superannuation arrangements for secretarial and parliamentary assistance employed under the scheme of secretarial assistance. Under the Act, the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has the power to regulate the provision of secretarial facilities to members and qualifying parties. This function transferred from the Minister for Finance on the establishment of the Commission on 1 January 2004. The term secretarial facilities is not defined in legislation, but is generally taken to be a wide term, encompassing the staff employed under the scheme for secretarial assistance, ICT equipment, office equipment, printing facilities and graphic design services. Secretarial assistance, parliamentary assistance, administrative assistance, administrators and chefs to cabinet are employed by members and by qualifying parties, but as you know are paid by the Commission. The Commission also regulates the number of staff employed under the scheme and has oversight of the operation of the scheme. Under the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Act of 2003, the Commission must obtain the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform before reaching an agreement with any person in relation to rates of pay, conditions of employment or superannuation rights. In practice, in practice, what this means is that the Commission advises on matters relating to resourcing, grading and terms and conditions of employment and submits proposals for the Minister's consideration and agreement. In other words, the Commission makes a proposal to myself as Minister in relation to issues such as grading, salary rates and so on. I then, as Minister, make a decision on that proposal, having consulted with my own officials. In that regard, I am aware that there is a process underway at the Workplace Relations Commission dealing with various issues, including alignment with the current Public Service Pay Agreement, building momentum between the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and SIP2. I want to say this morning that this is an issue that I would like to see resolved. I think that is an important political signal for me as Minister to give here in the House this morning. I look forward to a successful resolution of the matter and an early presentation of proposals for my agreement in line with my role under the legislation. Thank you, Minister, and thank you for outlining a lot of the issues in relation to this commencement that the Senator has brought forward. And as the Senator has outlined, we as Senators would not be able to do our job without our Secretarial assistance. And I know from my own point of view, in my office, Grace Coyle has been involved in drafting legislation and negotiating with Ministers and negotiating with Special Advisors to make sure that work that we have done in relation to policy and in relation to the Irish Sign Language Bill got done. So it is truly a misnomer to describe people as Secretarial assistance in this day and age because the job has evolved so much. Could I now call on Senator Cropper? Thank you very much for your own input there. Minister, I know that SA's this morning will be aware of the fact that I am here and that this matter is before us. If I am not misinterpreting what you are saying, you are saying once the Commission makes up their mind and comes to you with a proposal, you would be willing to look at that proposal and you are anxious to have this matter resolved as quickly as possible. I will say one thing. Going back to my time as a teacher and as a union activist and as a president of a union, it always annoyed me something terrible that the state was the most difficult of all to deal with when it came to resolving matters. And when we went to Workplace Relations Commission and when we went to the Labour Court. Indeed, I recall on one occasion going to the Labour Court and in order to get enforcement having to go to the courts against an education authority. I would hope now, and Kahirluk is sitting with us today and he is a member of the Commission, I would hope that this would go to the next Commission meeting and that a proposal would go to you before Christmas and that we would have this matter resolved for once and for all. Failing that, I will try my damnedest in the new year to ensure that no legislation is dealt with in this House until this matter is dealt with, for once and for all. These people, it is now over three years since I discussed this at the Commission. And it is absolutely ridiculous that three years later we have to invite the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform into the House to try and resolve the matter. And I really do appreciate your coming here this morning, Minister, and I think what you have said is positive. And I look forward to the Commission now acting on your input here today. Thank you. Thank you very much, Senator, and I also want to acknowledge your own comments, Kahirluk. I should have said that this is an issue that has been raised with me by yourself and many of your colleagues, Senator, from across the floor of the Shannad in recent times. My understanding is that both parties, the Commission and CIP2, have written to the WRC and want to go back to the WRC for negotiations. And that is what now needs to happen. And I would welcome that and I look forward to that happening. You mentioned the 2021 House of the Oireachtas Commission Bill, and I will be here in the next week or two in relation to that bill. It provides for a significant increase in the resources of the Oireachtas of over €40 million across the next three years. That is an increase of almost 10 per cent, which is needed and will be used for a variety of different reasons. So I think what I wanted to do this morning is to clearly set out what my role is under the legislation. It is to give consent to a proposal that is put to me by the Commission. So the Commission is the party that is directly involved in the negotiations. But I have given a clear political signal and I think that that is significant. And, you know, I have looked at the proposal that was put on the table in September. There is a lot of merit in it. The realignment with the public sector norms is important. Even under the existing terms of building momentum, the increase on the 1st of October gone and the increase on the 1st of October next year. While it is 1 per cent in headline terms, it is a minimum of €500 each time. So for somebody at the bottom of the pay scale, that is 2 per cent each time. And then there is the sectoral bargaining, 1 per cent as well on the 1st of February. And there is an element from the last agreement that is also on the table, as well as dealing with the issue of incremental credits, so that people can start further up the pay scale and so on. So there is a lot in that, but look, it is not for me to get into the detail of it. I have given a signal now for the Commission to engage intensively with SIPTU in the normal industrial relations channels at the WRC. And I stand ready with my officials to consider any proposal that is put to us. And I hope that that will be sooner rather than later. Thank you very much. Thank you, Minister. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you.