merrion street

"I welcome the deferral of industrial action by Section 39 workers and I'm pleased that services will not be disrupted.

Section 39 agencies provide vital services to often the most vulnerable in our society.

I would like to thank ICTU and the trade unions for their engagement, and the Workplace Relations Commission, who played a pivotal role in brokering agreement between the parties."

Note to Editors

Summary of the Process

The Department of Health, the HSE and the Trade Unions have agreed that the
HSE will carry out an analysis to establish, with supporting evidence, the
following:

1. Whether, when and to what extent reductions in pay rates were applied
during the crisis in each relevant organisation;

2. Whether, when and to what extent restoration of pay reductions has
happened;

3. Identify the financial implications for each organisation, taking
account of all sources of funding, associated with addressing the issues
identified and propose an appropriate plan for phased resolution in each
case.

The HSE will commence the data gathering exercise immediately commencing
with an agreed list of organisations.

The data gathering exercise should be completed as early as possible, but
with an interim report expected by the end of March 2018.

The data provided by the organisations will inform the scope and nature of
the follow - on work that may need to be done to complete the
data-validation exercise.

An Oversight Group, to assist in implementation may be established, if
required.

Where organisations are shown to have the financial capacity to make pay
restorations themselves without adversely impacting service provision, they
should proceed to do so as soon as possible.