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

I, too, welcome the motion. We have discussed the issue of home care many times over the past number of years. It is an extremely important part of the healthcare system. It is vital that somebody in his or her own home is given the proper intervention and vital care at that time. We have moved towards the model where people want to stay in their homes, if it is medically feasible, because that is obviously where they feel more relaxed and more at home - excuse the pun. It is a better environment, both physically and mentally. All the evidence indicates that where a person gets a proper intervention, the outcomes are very good. The State has funded home care but it still lags behind the need, especially for people in a hospital setting who cannot leave that setting to come home. The home care approach and model is better. As I said, the evidence indicates people are happier and so forth.

We are not only talking about those people who need home care but also the workers. Speaking as a former home care worker, it is a brilliant, rewarding job in more ways than one. You do not do it for the money. Nobody does it to get rich. You do it for the passion, the altruistic need, and wanting to give back to your fellow human beings. However, there is a major issue around pay. There is no doubt about that. The proliferation of privatisation of home care is a huge worry. A tendering process is under way. These companies are doing very well but their workers are struggling. It is to be hoped some of this can be addressed through the tendering process, including travel expenses. A home care worker who has ten clients will sometimes have to travel wide distances to get from one client to another.

That takes up a lot of time. It has to be addressed because if we do not keep workers, we will have this situation all the time. A huge number of people want to give but cannot do so if they are not paid properly or recognised. That is important.

The proliferation of privatisation has been a huge worry and has denigrated the service the State is obliged to provide. It is important to address that imbalance in home care work and to recognise home care. We live in a society possessed by financial rewards but we need to become a society that cares about its individual members. We are a caring society but there are things in place which do not help people who want to give. The main issues are more home care hours for people who need home care and proper pay and conditions. There are people in our society who earn hundreds of thousands of euro and sometimes you have to ask yourself what social good they do. The social good of a carer who is meeting the most basic needs of a fellow human being is vital. Sometimes we do not recognise that in a capitalist society. I hope the tendering process will give a living wage to those who want to give back and make people’s lives better. That is vital.

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