We are a cohort of 46 staff who demand real and swift action be taken to end the stalemate between the Sisters of Charity and the HSE at St Vincent's Centre, Cork. The HSE and Sisters of Charity are in disagreement over who is responsible for the staff in St Vincent's Centre since the centre de-registered in 2017 and we can no longer wait for this to come to a natural end. Action needs to be taken now. Someone needs to draw a line in the sand and bring this to an end. The Sisters of Charity and the HSE appear to be attempting to emancipate themselves of their legal responsibilities to us as staff, and we are stuck right in the middle. The issues narrow down to three: Pay, PRSI and pensions.

Staff increments are being withheld and denied. All staff have accrued salary arrears because the HSE, who currently pay our salary, are refusing to pay it correctly. We were never informed in March 2017 that we would essentially have our pay frozen, which is what we've been subjected to. We do not know if we will ever see this money come back to us. No one is telling us anything.

We have not been able to access PRSI benefits, despite our PRSI contributions being taken from our salary every paycheck like the rest of the country who are in full-time and part-time employment. We know this, because we have been told by dentists and opticians that we are not eligible. Where is this money going - because it certainly doesn't seem to be making it's way to Revenue. Not only this, but it is also affecting staff by way of them being asked to pay local property tax twice. Staff can't access the Assist to Buy scheme because their Revenue taxes aren't in order. Staff have husbands and partners who are self-employed - this affects them, too. And God forbid we were to go out on long term sick leave in the morning - would we be entitled to illness benefit?

Some staff are long-standing members of a voluntary pension scheme set up within the service many years ago. When the Sister's of Charity withdrew in March 2017 these contributions continued to be taken out of staff wages, but ceased being handed over to the company that was managing the pension scheme. Staff were not told this had happened until over a year later. As a result, the pension lapsed, and now our staff who are nearing retirement age are facing a real, tangible worry. Where is their pension? We don't know where the money is going, because it certainly isn't being paid into a pension scheme anymore. Staff can't access their money, even if they wanted to opt out of the scheme. Their money is being ring-fenced and is inaccessible.

Our residents continue to receive a very high standard of care and staff continue to fulfill their duty of care to the residents, but where is the duty of care that is owed to us as employees? The Sisters of Charity are saying the HSE are our employers and thus legally responsible, the HSE is saying it's St Vincent's Centre the company, but St Vincent's Centre the company does not exist anymore, as it de-registered in 2017.

As staff, we feel disrespected - and disrespect in uneven power dynamic is bullying. We keep hearing that mediation is ongoing between the Sisters of Charity and the HSE, and that everything will be 'sorted out' soon, but the promise of an apple tomorrow is not going to feed us today.

We are tired, and exhausted from all this. We just want someone to listen to us. To help us fix this. We are at our wits end and we just cannot take it any longer - the vast financial implications are too much for us to bear anymore. It is sickening that it is taking three years. We will not wait anymore.