Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein)
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I again apologise for interrupting but I am down to the last minute here and IBEC has not addressed the fundamental issue at the heart of so much of the recruitment and retention crisis, which is the appallingly low rates of pay. The witnesses have, in fairness, acknowledged the rate of pay for a private home help of €13.10 per hour which, I will put on the record here, is an absolutely disgraceful rate of pay. For me, it is a shame because IBEC has got an awful lot of good points in this document but it is avoiding the elephant in the room, namely, low pay and the fact that IBEC's members refuse to negotiate with trade unions and refuse to commit to an employment regulation order that would actually take concrete steps to tackle this issue. It is a huge shame that IBEC has not acknowledged that and has not even had the courage to encourage its members to engage with an ERO process.

I need to apologise as I am going straight from here to a Commencement matter but I will say to the witnesses that I will watch back the rest of the proceedings. I thank the Chair for his time this morning.