Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
============================================================

Charles Ward (RDR), Donegal

As the Tánaiste will know, over 100,000 public sector workers, including teachers, SNAs, healthcare workers, council workers, civil servants and people who work in this building, are now on a work-to-rule because the Government has refused to offer them a pay rise that would allow them to keep up with the current cost-of-living crisis. I fully support them. Over the past few days, I have talked to many public sector workers in Donegal, including members of the Inishowen and Letterkenny branches of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation. I was struck by how downhearted they are at the fact that they feel the Government is not willing to engage. They feel it demonstrates a lack of respect. They are under severe stress in this crisis and are struggling to pay bills. They deserve respect. Will the Tánaiste intervene and ensure the Government comes to the table with a decent offer that keeps up with the pace of inflation so that public sector workers can get through the current cost-of-living crisis?

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01