Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It looks like there is another increase due in January of next year and a subsequent increase is due in January 2026. That will take the threshold to €39,000. That is some leap from €27,000.

There is one way to resolve all of this and to obviate the need for deferrals at all. We know the private nursing home sector is simply synonymous with low pay and poor conditions when it comes to healthcare assistants and home care support workers. I made a case for the joint labour committee and the ERO system for a number of different reasons. It is a way that organisations, both trade unions and employers, can customise a solution for any particular sector where a JLC-ERO system would apply.

I saw in the media coverage earlier on this year that Nursing Homes Ireland referred to the State as the paymaster of healthcare assistants and of home support workers in the private sector. The Minister for children, Deputy O'Gorman, acknowledged there are additional state subsidies being provided now to, for example, the early years sector, but the quid pro quois that it would enter into the JLC system based on increased subsidies. Should that not be the case for the private nursing sector and the home care support providers to be included in such a way?

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