Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

Care of older people is very important and is generally privatised in terms of nursing homes. The workers who provide this service in nursing homes are essential workers. Many of them were brought over on a special work permit in which the Government was involved. I ask the Taoiseach on a humanitarian basis to listen to the issues raised by these workers. Their wages are too low to allow them to bring their families here, who, by the way, they can support; nobody is asking for any handout. There are so many criteria put in the way. For someone to bring their spouse, for example, they must earn €30,000. In order to bring one child, they must earn €36,000. To bring two children, they must earn €41,000. We are subjecting these workers to enforced family separation while expecting them to look after our families. It is not a very nice thing to do to people. It is not the type of care system we want. I plead with the Taoiseach to look into this issue. Unite trade union is organising these workers, which is very good. It has asked that these criteria be dropped and that these workers be allowed to work here and bring their families over. Most of them are nurses; the majority are from India. They have great skills from which we are getting added value. Most of their spouses are also health workers and could help with the labour shortage in the are of health.

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