John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I can see the committee is kind of balanced, in terms of some of the views coming out, that it does not like private sector home care. A member of my family was in receipt of private sector family home care and that care was second to none. The employees were an absolute credit to the provider. I wish to put that on record.

I am told the HSE pays, on average, €30 to €32 per hour to the private companies. I ask our guests from HCCI to provide a breakdown of the costs of the private companies. We know they pay considerably less per hour to employees than the HSE does. They pay between €10.50 and €12.50 per hour, whereas the HSE pays, on average, €16 per hour. What is the breakdown of the costs differential? Let us take the lower end of it, that is, €30 per hour, and the higher end of the payment, that is, €12.50 per hour. That is almost €18 of a difference. The costs of HCCI providers are 75% more than what the employee is getting. What are their costs?