Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 371: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the position regarding the pension scheme for persons working as home helps; the number of persons currently in this scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1002/11]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Home Help Services are provided by the Health Service Executive (HSE) or by the voluntary sector which are contracted by HSE through service level agreements. The HSE has advised that at end December there were 10,661 home helps employed in the HSE. Of these, 4,754 (44.59%) are members of the pension scheme. There are also a further 3,620 (Nov. 2010) Home Help workers who are not employed by the HSE but are employed in the voluntary sector in counties Dublin, Wicklow and Clare. The Labour Court found that these Home Help workers were not public servants and can not be included in the public sector scheme.