Ms Allison Metcalfe:

I will speak about the 30-minute calls. It is impossible to go to somebody's house and assist him or her with going to and from the bathroom or sitting down in a chair within 30 minutes. I know with elderly people that when I knock on the door, say hello and have a conversation, time is always ticking. They like to chat and the carer might be the only social contact for the whole day. I represent carers today and they want rid of 30-minute calls. We had somebody discussing this only the other day in Westmeath. The person was driving six miles to go to a client to provide 30 minutes of care and then six miles home again. The person did it in the morning, at lunch and at dinner time. Some people are doing those types of half-hour calls and getting €11.50 per hour. I know not all companies are paying that rate but many are. They are paid €5.75 for the 30 minutes, which is quite bad.

The carer is the front-line worker and the person representing the HSE or whatever company in the community. People do not go into caring just for the sake of it and they are naturally very caring before starting that work. They invest in themselves and do their training. All carers must have the required training stipulated by the HSE before they are allowed to go near clients. It is always carried out, to my knowledge and from what members are telling us. There is no point in trying to implement new training for carers if we are not going to deal with drastically improving the conditions for existing carers.

I am concerned about the more than 6,000 people waiting for care. I mentioned earlier the people waiting to get jobs so is there something we can do? We know many carers looking for work so why are so many clients waiting for care when carers are looking for jobs?