Calls on minister to resolve ambulance workers' dispute

FINE Gael Senator Michelle Mulherin has spoken to the Minister for Health, Simon Harris, in a bid to resolve the dispute between the country's ambulance personnel and the HSE over trade union representation rights and the deduction of union subscriptions at source from their pay.

She said she had 'every confidence that he will take this issue by the scruff of the neck with a view to having it resolved in the short term'.

Said Senator Mulherin: “Many of these workers are highly-trained paramedics and highly qualified. I urge the HSE to do the right thing and recognise their union.

“The ambulance personnel have unique issues to themselves which set them apart from other interests of workers within the health service.”

She continued: “I supported the protest outside the Dáil on Wednesday afternoon by the National Ambulance Service Representative Association, NASRA, the members of which are in dispute with their employer, the HSE. I was glad to be able to meet with ambulance personnel who had travelled up from Mayo and show them my support.

“NASRA, which represents more than 600 ambulance personnel, currently falls under the umbrella of the Psychiatric Nurses Association, PNA. This group of workers within the healthcare system want to have their own union and the HSE does not want them to.

“They have held two strikes in the past couple of months and the issue needs to be dealt with. Ambulance service workers are an integral part of the health system. They not only provide an emergency response service and deal with the most distressing situations on some occasions, but they also provide an essential service on a daily basis for the health service.

“It is a reasonable request that they are making and they should be supported.”