Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A couple of issues have been raised. The first is that of home care workers. I did not see Deputy Ó Cuív's debate during the week, but it was discussed with the Taoiseach last week in the House. It is an issue we all have commented on lately. We are engaging, and will engage, with the home care providers in the sector to try to gather the evidence to make the case. We carried out two reviews over the last year since the onset of the pandemic. In April of last year we changed the scheme to allow permits for healthcare assistants, who generally work in nursing homes, to come here to work. There was evidence to show there was a shortage there and there was agreement with the HSE and the Department of Health that they were needed. A structure and a training regime were put in place to facilitate that.

Phase two of that was the demand for workers in the home. We have tried to engage with the providers in that area. They have gathered evidence for us and we are working through that evidence. However, in the last review, which was completed in the last few weeks, the evidence was not there to show that there is a need to revert to the permits scheme to bring skills or labour in from abroad. The biggest issue we have to try to tease through is that 75% of the people who work in that sector at present are part-time. I understand that a number of them might choose to be part-time, but we have to go deeper and analyse that. The Department of Health is involved in that process.

See this speech in context