Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last December, I published the outcome of the review of the occupations lists for employment permits, which signalled the Government’s intention to increase the minimum salary thresholds for employment permits, including those associated with healthcare assistants and home care workers. The purpose of this change is to ensure fair treatment for employment permit holders and to allow them to qualify for the minimum threshold for family reunification.

While the Minister has agreed to a deferral of this policy change, he remains committed to increasing the minimum salary thresholds for healthcare assistants and home care workers. The basis of this decision is a recognition that the nursing home and home support sectors are bound by existing funding agreements and this will impact on their ability to meet the new minimum thresholds in the short term.

The nursing home support scheme is a long-established statutory mechanism through which private and voluntary nursing homes are funded. Under this scheme, nursing homes negotiate the prices they can charge for their services with the National Treatment Purchase Fund. The maximum prices for individual nursing homes are agreed with the NTPF and are based on cost criteria such as costs incurred by the nursing home, local market prices, historic prices and overall budgetary capacity. These prices are agreed for a contractually set duration.

This deferral is a short-term measure to ensure continuity of service for vulnerable members of our society while the pathway to achieving the new minimum salary threshold of €30,000 is agreed and implemented. To achieve this move as quickly as possible, a consultation process to agree a pathway to the higher salary threshold is being established and will seek the input of sectoral employers, advocacy groups and Departments.

As to the Deputy's second question, joint labour committees may be set up by the Labour Court following an application from either the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, a trade union or any organisation that represents the workers or employers involved.

It is therefore open to the representatives of workers or employers in any sector, including in the healthcare and home care sectors, to proceed to request the establishment of a JLC when there are grounds to believe that the representatives are willing to engage constructively in collective bargaining to address the working conditions and pay of employees in the sector.

I believe that JLCs provide an important opportunity for employers and workers to negotiate wages and terms of employment. I therefore encourage both employers and workers to engage in the JLC process where available. A sectoral employment regulation order provides wage certainty and security for employees and helps employers attract and retain talented employees. I remain strongly supportive of the JLCs and their contribution to a positive industrial relations environment.

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