Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that there is a real crisis in relation to getting sufficient staff to provide what is a critical social care service. Those difficulties were recognised in the strategic workforce plan. There were 16 recommendations made, principally in relation to pay and conditions. The plan recommended a living wage and paying people for their travel time which, incredibly, is not in place at the moment. The recommendation is for a payment of €34.44 per hour, and the cost of implementing that would be approximately €90 million. What is being suggested is that the Department of Health has only €50 million and that there is a shortfall. These are validated figures. Grant Thornton went in and looked at the books of several providers. There is no question but that the figure of €34.44 is a valid one but what has been offered is €28. That goes nowhere near meeting demand. The Taoiseach said in March it was his intention to implement all of those recommendations and what is missing now is the funding from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform. The Department needs to step up.

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