Mr. Damien Walshe:

In terms of recruitment, I think we can see a generalised trend in Ireland of moving away from institutions and building supports that support people inside and outside their homes. Certainly we have witnessed challenges in recruiting and retaining staff. One of the things Mr. Kenny touched on is that without a clear definition of what a personal assistant is, it if often highly medicalised. Ms Gaynor said at the start that is a very simple system. Disabled people will tell people what they need. It is not a carer or medical support. However, when it is advertised as such, it puts off a lot of people as they assume they need some kind of highly-regulated, medicalised training. Some service providers have put that onus on that kind of recruitment process and it has become overly bureaucratic and formalised. Fundamentally, disabled people are looking for supports for the things they cannot do themselves. That can vary across what disabled people need. One of the huge challenges is that we get people employed to act as a personal assistant for one person, but who then moves into another setting where they act as a home help or home carer, so it blurs their roles.

In order to have a recruitment drive, and I think it is really important that this not only falls on the HSE but that we look at the Department for Social Protection, we need to make this a career that is attractive. As Mr. Kenny said, it could appeal to people who are not looking for a 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 40 hours per week job. It could be made attractive in that this could be something that is recognised as providing potential liberation for somebody and a connection within the community that might not be onerous and allows a flexibility based on where people's life circumstance are. As Mr. Kenny said, in our working group, we have seen no such drive to say, "This could be a job for you". We need to think at a statutory level in the long term. If we are continually trying to meet commitments under the UNCRPD and in relation to older people and move away from institutionalisation and warehousing people, we must build a system and structure of support that gives people choice inside and outside of the home. Part of that is that when we have a system in place and we have invested in it, we need to message that so people may think that it could be the job for them because it is not overly bureaucratic and not overly structured and that they could get great enjoyment from being in a role where they provide that help and support that gives people that bit of freedom of choice in their lives that they are looking for.