“The Board of Directors of Enable Ireland are more concerned than ever on the absence of progress on achieving Pay Parity for its 1400 employees and direct effect on our ability to provide the level of service required to children and adults with multiple and complex disabilities.

It is a year since trade unions and Government agreed a pay proposal for Section 39 workers which successfully averted a strike at the last moment and still the issue of equality of pay with their HSE colleagues remains unresolved.

An Taoiseach, Simon Harris, has made a commitment in Fine Gael’s election manifesto to achieve pay parity for Section 39 staff. We need to see decisive action taken now. The voluntary Board of Directors of Enable Ireland now call on An Taoiseach and the Government to intervene and issue a Government directive to instruct DEPR to release funds to address Section 39 Pay Parity and restore the pay of Section 39 workers to equality with their HSE and Section 38 colleagues.

The issue of pay parity for Section 39 organisations like Enable Ireland is severely hampering our ability to deliver existing services, our capacity to meet emerging and unmet needs due to our ability to recruit and retain staff. Ultimately, this has a negative impact on the quality of life of the 13,000 children, adults and their families using our services.

Essential services provided on behalf of the state by Section 39 organisations must be funded on an equivalent basis to those provided directly by the HSE or Section 38 organisations.”