Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I speak not as a politician or an activist but as a carer. I was a carer for 15 years before I came into this place and worked as a home care worker for ten years. The service is vital for the family and the client. It has a huge place in primary care and in a health service and the announcement of what is almost a moratorium on home care hours is very unfortunate. This will be detrimental to people who get the service at the moment and to the 6,000 people who are waiting on home care packages and are in vital need. They are coming out of hospitals and need care to stay away from hospitals.

The Minister spoke about putting home care on a statutory footing, which would be good. It would mean people were entitled to a certain number of hours of home care per week under the law of the State. A patchwork of private companies run home care at the moment, which is something I have a problem with because it is disjointed. If we were to put the service on a statutory footing it would be beneficial for the client, the patient, who is the most important person, their family and the workers. I would be grateful if the Minister would say what he means by putting the community care provision on a statutory footing.

Many home care workers are not unionised and are underpaid. A home care worker will probably earn about €10.50 per hour, while a private company charges the HSE double that amount. They make huge amounts of money out of HSE contracts and this needs to be looked at.

See this speech in context