Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am aware that there were long, protracted discussions and negotiations in the Labour Court and the Labour Relations Commission in the context of trying to find an agreed basis for contracts for HSE-employed home helps. A home help who had X number of hours calculated on a base year - and I understand the number was roughly 80% of that - would have a set minimum contract but they would often have been given additional hours. The difficulty is that their hours in excess of the minimum contract are being pared back and given to private companies. As a result, there is a preference in the allocation of hours over and above those in the minimum contract which the HSE is obliged to honour. In case after case, home helps employed by the HSE are only being given the minimum contract hours. The contract refers to minimum weekly paid hours. There is no necessity for the HSE to deny them extra hours. Home helps across the country are still receiving the base minimum contract number of hours but they have been working extra hours in recent years. When the time comes to review their hours, those in excess of what is stated in the minimum contract are being given to private companies and the home helps hours are being reduced to the minimum. In this way, the HSE is meeting its basic obligations.

Why is there an obsession among HSE management, and as is evident in policy, to deny HSE-employed home helps extra hours when additional hours are being allocated to an individual? That seems to be the case. I have spoken to many home helps - I spoke to two of them before I came to the Chamber - and they have confirmed that is the case. They are now receiving the minimum number of hours when they would have been allocated many more hours up to now. There is a change in policy and the HSE is only meeting its obligations in terms of the minimum contract for these employees but it should not give preference to the voluntary organisations or private companies ahead of the HSE employees.

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