Mr. Pat Healy:

Exactly. One other important piece is the forum we established, which I referenced, consisting of representative organisations such as the voluntary sector organisations, the private sector and the HSE. Mr. Fitzgerald chairs that process. We have been working with those groups collectively to address many of these issues and to see how we can work collaboratively, each within our own remit, to progress this over time. That is an important thing to say.

In answer to Deputy Donnelly on the conditions of employment, obviously there are different conditions in the three components of the sector to which I have referred. As an employer, the HSE pays rates of around €18 to €20 per hour. There are contracts. Deputy O'Reilly will remember from a previous role that we spent several years working with SIPTU to improve the conditions for HSE workers in the sector. Significant progress was made on that over a period of years, with the benefit of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, as it is called now. There is still more to be done on that, but in my briefing note I have referenced the progress that has been made, which is significant.

Part of what Deputy Donnelly was saying was that there must be a balance. On the one hand, we need a flexible service that is responsive to the needs of service users - the people we are serving. If we do not have a contract that works for the staff as well, however, we will obviously run into difficulties around continuity of service and so on. It is important strike that balance.

On the private side, we tender for services. While there is not regulation, we have set out a standard of care that has to be achieved. I have referenced that and the themes that we use. Those themes are drawn from the national standards for safer and better healthcare outlined by the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA. We are drawing on what we hope will be the regulated system in the future, and we reflect that in our contracts with private providers. We set a standard that has to be delivered.