Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thought we had extended the time. I thank the Minister for Health for coming to the House to take this question. He is very familiar with this issue of the home help gratuity payments, and I have written to him on a number of occasions. According to my file, the first time I raised this issue was on 12 March 2013 with the Minister's predecessor and in writing to the HSE. In brief, this relates to a Labour Court recommendation that home help workers, many of whom are low paid, be granted a gratuity payment based on their years of service in lieu of pension entitlements. That was for home help services that were majority funded by the HSE. This would have a positive effect on hundreds, if not thousands, of workers throughout the country.

The issue came to my attention when two ladies in the north Dublin area, Patricia Greene and Mary Hughes, raised the matter with me, and I have pursued it ever since. The reasons we were given, which I accepted, were that while no one disagreed with the recommendation and the Government should see it through, a letter going back to 27 March 2013 stated that due to current financial constraints, the position remained the same, that is, that Government was not going to pay the gratuities due to many of these workers. They are all front-line workers but many of them are low paid, and these are significant payments.

Having been stonewalled by the former Minister, Deputy Reilly, when the Minister took over the position I got a decent answer in February of this year stating that he had initiated a review of the matter following advice from the Department's legal adviser, which would involve the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the HSE and the Minister's own Department, and they were due to report back by the end of March this year. We are in June now. I have continued to write to the HSE and the Minister's own good offices seeking an update. Those people deserve this money. It is an entitlement in lieu of pensions and we have to let them know one way or the other whether Government will pay what is due to them. If that is not the case, it should let them know, but I will be one of those supporting them going to the courts to enforce the Labour Court recommendation.I hope we can see a resolution. I know the Minister will agree and I know that he knows the importance of home help workers across the country from his constituency and the work he does as Minister for Health. This is a Labour Court recommendation that goes back to 2009. They have been left swinging in the wind since then. They deserve to be paid and they deserve this money. I am seeking an update from the Minister today that, hopefully, has some cast-iron timelines. The Department and the Minister said that they would report back by March. I have had no advice about the conclusion of those discussions between the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the HSE could perhaps the Minister could update me on the situation. I again thank him for taking this matter today.