Seanad Report:The Department of Finance had not had the courtesy to respond to an invitation from the Labour Court to attend a conciliation conference on the issue of secretarial assistants' pay, Mr Jim Higgins said.
The starting scale for secretaries employed to assist TDs and senators in Leinster House had been reduced by €70 a week in October last.
This decision had been taken, he was told, on the basis that it was no longer possible to pay age related salaries which were deemed to be discriminatory under employment equality legislation. In adjusting the salary scales to reflect his adherence to the legislation, the Minister had fixed the starting salary at €327.82 per week. This was a significant reduction on the former figure of €398.15.
The secretarial assistance and their representatives had pleaded for an examination of this matter by the Minister. Every single channel having been exhausted, Fine Gael had been obliged to refer the issue to the Labour Court on March 7th last.
Dr Martin Mansergh (FF) said that if the facts were as stated by Mr Higgins, he would have a good deal of sympathy with the case that had been made.
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It would be helpful for the promotion of the Irish language if the traditional prayer at the start of the day's proceedings was recited in Irish only, Mr Joe O'Toole (Ind) said.
The Cathaoirleach, Mr Kiely, pointed out that a Standing Order of the House required that the Clerk should read the prayer in Irish and English.
The prayer asks that Christ direct the work of the House.
Mr O'Toole said he did not think it was necessary to have the prayer said in both languages. Mr Kiely said this was a matter for the Committee on Procedures and Privileges.
Mr David Norris (Ind) said he thought there was a certain level of hypocrisy about the matter. He thought they would be better off without the prayer, and he was saying that as a church goer.
Dr Martin Mansergh (FF) said he felt that the prayer should be retained. Given that people from Northern Ireland regularly visited the chamber, he believed that the prayer should remain bilingual and should not be monolingual.
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Mr Ulick Bourke (FG) said many local authority housing programmes had been thrown into total disarray as a result of the withdrawal by the Department of the Environment and Local Government of a subsidy towards affordable housing. Calling for an urgent debate on the matter he said it was a disgrace that people who were trying to provide housing for themselves were now being left without this financial assistance.
The leader of the House, Mrs Mary O'Rourke, said she was not aware of the withdrawal of the subsidy which Mr Burke had spoken about, but she would certainly make inquiries about the matter.