Mr. Ed Crotty:

I am with the HCCI but my day job is running a home care business. I am based in Dun Laoghaire and we have about 100 carers working for us. I will make a number of observations. There has been talk about the contracts for carers and the way carers are employed using flexible contracts. Many providers offer guaranteed hours, including us. Not everyone is treating it the same way and most probably do not. We certainly offer that where it is appropriate. It is important to remember that many carers want to work in a flexible way. Caring suits people who have 20 or 30 hours a week to give. They may not want to work in a nine-to-five type job and that is why they are carers in the first place. It is important not to lose sight of that flexibility.

In our company we pay for training and the QQI qualifications. We also pay for carers to come to induction. They are a number of clarifications.