Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State may guess which topic I will raise. I once again raise the issues of healthcare assistants from outside the European Economic Area, EEA, many of whom come here from India and play a vital role in our health service doing stressful work away from their families. They do not reach the minimum income threshold of €30,000. People who came here last year and the year before are on €27,000. They have to do difficult, stressful and vital work away from their spouses and children. Often, they cannot even talk to their kids during the day because, by the time they finish their shift, with the time differential, the kids have gone to bed. These healthcare assistants and home-care workers are the only groups for whom the new €30,000 rate has been deferred. For someone who wants to come from India next month or later in the spring, it would still be €27,000. Everyone else gets €30,000.

I understand in a discussion with workers' representatives, the Minister of State made the point that he did not meet representatives of employers before the decision was made. It seems he met the representatives of employers before the decision was announced. Will the Minister clarify the position? On 17 January, The Irish Timesreported:

The new minimum rates, up from €27,000 to €30,000, were intended to apply to applications or renewals submitted from Wednesday, but after a meeting between Minister of State at the Department for employment and enterprise, Neale Richmond, and representatives of Nursing Homes Ireland on Monday, as well as engagements with other employers, it was confirmed on Tuesday the increases would be deferred for a period.

Were employers' representatives met before the announcement was made? Nursing Homes Ireland may promote the image of representing small, family businesses, and while I have no doubt there are small and medium-sized enterprises under its banner, the ESRI has pointed out that, increasingly, nursing homes are owned, at least in part, by big financial institutions. It seems the nursing homes were given a deferral when other groups were not. The deferral, I now understand, is for 12 months. Will the Minister of State clarify that? I see him shaking his head. When I first heard about this I thought the deferral might be for a couple of months but a deferral of a year - I am happy to be corrected if I am wrong - is quite a major one and a major concession to the owners of nursing homes.

These workers are doing stressful work away from their families, spouses and kids. If there is a discrimination - and it is a discrimination - with those workers on the work permit having a deferral of the increased rate, at the very least, they should get a concession at the other end. They should be allowed to have their spouse and kids with them while they are here doing difficult and stressful work in the health service. I ask the Minister of State for clarification as to whether he met Nursing Homes Ireland before the announcement was made about the deferral of the €30,000 rate for healthcare assistants. I ask him to clarify how long the deferral lasts. I thought it was a year but I would be happy to learn it is less.

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