Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are too quick to commercialise care. In my area, I see many people, particularly women, who go to the homes of neighbours and elderly people. I acknowledge that they get a small amount of money, but most of the care is driven by more altruistic motives. They know the people for whom they are caring, who have been their neighbours for years. We should not look at all areas of human activity as a business venture or opportunity. There is a disposition in our culture to care. Mr. Murphy spoke as if he were creating professions. Perhaps that might not sit easily with some of the work. There is something in the Irish people whereby a great deal of caring is provided due to altruistic or humanitarian motives and good neighbourliness. I would not like to see that undermined, diminished or commercialised. Many of the women I know who do brilliant work in the homes of their neighbours do not see themselves as professionals. They see themselves getting a few bob through the HSE rather than the black market, but they provide the care mainly out of altruistic motives and old fashioned ideas of neighbourliness. It is almost an instinct to reach out and care for people as well as being something virtuous. I am not saying the witnesses are advocates for the idea of driving commercialism into every quarter and every corner of life, but I note that business people see business opportunities everywhere.

Mr. Murphy talks about creating jobs. The corollary of jobs is wages. From reading some of the material provided, I have some concerns about the HCCI perspective on wages. There appears to be some latent hostility to minimum wage arrangements, which does not sit easily with my way of thinking either.