Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an ngrúpa teicniúil. I thank the technical group for once again putting the spotlight on the absence of services and the failure of successive Governments to recognise the invaluable work that caregivers give us. I am not going to use my own words. I am going to use the Policy Statement on Care published by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission in 2023. As the Minister may recall, IHREC was set up in 2014 to put the spotlight on human rights and equality so we would have an inclusive society and to guide successive Governments.

What did IHREC tell us, even if it is being utterly ignored? It said that the State should prioritise the deprivatisation of care and that there should be an updated carers strategy, which is not there. The report states that care is central to a functional, equal and inclusive society. This is on pages 10 and 11, if the Minister of State would like to read it. It quotes the OECD and tells us that 9% of global GDP is unpaid-for care. It goes through this step-by-step to tell us that the privatisation of care is a disaster. Of course, it does not use the word “disaster” - I am using that word - but it tells us that it is seriously defective. It states:

Seeking to make a profit from care is antithetical to its values.

[...]

Our positions and recommendations require a fundamental change in how the State views and values care across the life-cycle.

I know the Minister of State agrees and this is what frustrates me. I know his heart and soul is behind everything that IHREC is saying because no rational person could disagree with it. It provides the solutions. The report states:

Market driven solutions can no longer be the answer. Adequate investment by the State in care, as a public service, is required... The care sector in Ireland has become increasingly privatised and commercialised...

It goes on and on. The main point is that seeking to make a profit is antithetical to care and its recommendation is to deprivatise it.

IHREC then goes on to tell us that homecare is unregulated, which is part of today’s motion. It also states that the age of carers is getting younger and younger, and that 64% of Irish disabled women have children. It tells us that the whole care issue is gendered, as the Minister of State knows, and that the conditions are appalling. It makes practical suggestions in terms of permits and so on.

I am standing here today and I do not know how many motions I have spoken on. Indeed, the Minister of State has spoken on them very eloquently and raised issues in his own constituency.

Why were we at this? It is because we blindly followed a neoliberal ideology that made a product out of care. I had someone in my office lately, as have all TDs. I will not exaggerate but, over approximately three weeks, 11 different carers were sent to visit a person who has senile dementia of one form or another. Does the Minister of State know what I was told when I was on the health forum for ten years of my life? I was told that a person does not have a right to the same carer. That is the neoliberal ideology. The Progressive Democrats were instrumental in introducing that, leading Fianna Fáil. They made a product out of everything. They knew the price of everything and the value of absolutely nothing. On top of that, to add insult to injury, a value was not even put on what it means to the economy. We cannot have an economy without carers.

See this speech in context