Ms Rosemary Keogh:

Senator Burke is right about the lack of public visibility of the services provided by voluntary organisations. People do not realise the depth and breadth of the essential services our organisations provide. Interestingly, until 2016 the social care division of the HSE produced an annual report that set out in detail the funding that went to each organisation and the types of services provided. People did not use it for bedtime reading but it was available in the public domain. That report has not been published for the past two years so there really is no visibility of the quantum of services provided. We need to find a way to get that message out there publicly. We do it individually as organisations but the HSE in its own annual report should recognise the contribution of the voluntary sector and the types of services and quantity of services we provide for people.

With regard to whether headcount increases in the voluntary sector are comparable to those in the HSE, the short answer is that they are absolutely not. This is compounded because we have a pay disparity between the public and voluntary sectors. All of our organisations are struggling in a full economy to recruit and retain staff. My organisation is the largest provider of personal assistance hours in the country and we find it very difficult to recruit and retain staff because people doing exactly the same job in the HSE are getting full pay restoration. In the past month, they have been getting the benefit of pay for travel time, which our organisation cannot provide. We cannot compete. This impacts our services. Already this year we have been unable to deliver personal assistance hours and this will only be compounded. At the end of the day, it goes back to the people sitting in their homes relying on those personal assistance services. They are in complete isolation and cannot get out of bed or their houses. They cannot participate in and contribute to society and it is very important that we hammer this home.