Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. I also thank the Social Democrats.

I welcome that the Minister of State commissioned the report of the strategic workforce advisory group and that it was published in a relatively quick timeframe. I welcome the work that went into the report and its 16 recommendations. The Social Democrats tabled an amendment simply seeking a timeframe for the implementation of these recommendations. The Minister of State did not address that. Perhaps I missed it when I was listening in my office. Is that not the most basic thing? The report refers to the international problem of recruiting care workers and the multiplicity of reports. Here we have a pretty good report. I do not agree with all of the recommendations, but I will come back to that. I probably do not have time now but perhaps I will discuss that in another forum. It is disappointing not to have a timeframe for the implementation of the report's recommendations. It would be helpful for trust if the Minister of State could tell us when that will be done.

This Government inherited this problem. There is no doubt about that. This model came from the Progressive Democrats. I had the privilege – or torture – of sitting on the health forum for ten years of my life. I watched the dismantling of the public health service and what Deputy Bríd Smith referred to as the commercialisation and corporatisation of our health service. That process was led by the Progressive Democrats. I do not even hesitate in saying that their raison d'êtrewas to privatise everything and that is what we have now as a result. I think the private-public ratio of nursing homes now stands at 80%:20%. This report sets out the percentage in relation to direct and indirect care and of course the higher percentage is for the indirect care. It was confirmed the Government is paying €27 an hour to companies to enable them to make a profit when that money should be going to direct care. That started with the Progressive Democrats and it is now way past time we changed that. Part of the problem was the model.

Some 96% of carers are women and 43% are over 60. If 97% or 96% of carers were men, this problem would simply not exist.

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