Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Pauline Tully (SF), Cultural and Educational Panel

I move amendment No. 2:
In page 6, between lines 3 and 4, to insert the following:
" Review of rates of pay and conditions of home care workers
4. (1) The Minister shall, not later than 6 months after the commencement of this Act, carry out a review of the rates of pay and conditions of home care workers in the public, not-for-profit, and private sectors, which should also examine career structures, rostering practices, mileage costs, and recruitment challenges.
(2) As soon as practicable after the completion of the review under subsection (1) , the Minister shall prepare a report, in writing, of the findings of the review and cause a copy of the report to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.".
As indicated on Second Stage, we are supporting the Bill. We think it is important that this sector is regulated, particularly as our most vulnerable citizens are dependent on care. Regulation is important, which is why this Bill needs to move forward as quickly as possible. The situation is that we do not have enough carers. We have more than 5,000 people awaiting care, either to have their hours filled or to have additional hours allocated ones because their needs have increased. We do not have enough carers. The ones we do have are rushed off their feet. They are rushing from service user to service user and are not able to spend the required time with anyone. This leads to people being put to bed at ridiculous hours in the evening or not getting up until very late in the morning, which has a huge impact on the quality of life of our older and disabled people. Some of the latter are young people or children.
There are blackspots that need to be addressed. I sought support for someone in the area of Cavan in which I live. I contacted the HSE and several private healthcare providers. None of them had anybody available in that area. The Minister of State indicated that there will be increased recruitment by the HSE. I welcome that. He said last week that there is no recruitment embargo, which contradicts what I was told by the HSE locally. There is no visible recruitment campaign happening. Many of the people who work for the private operators would prefer to work for the HSE because there are better pay and conditions on offer.
The Minister of State referred to increased recruitment by the HSE, which is very welcome, but I fear that it will just take staff from the private sector and that we will still have a deficit in provision for the people who require care. We need to recruit immensely in order to ensure that we provide care for all the people who require it. Whether they are in the public sector, the private sector or the not-for-profit sector, all of those workers deserve to be treated properly. The only way to recruit people into this sector and to retain them is by offering proper pay and conditions. That is not happening, especially for those who do not work for the HSE directly. Many of them do not get travel expenses. They drive on roads that are in shocking condition. The people to whom the call often live down long lanes in quite isolated rural areas. These workers' cars constantly have to be repaired as a result, and they are left out of pocket in that regard.
We need to address this issue in the context of a recruitment campaign, retaining existing staff and offering proper pay. I support the Bill. It is not bringing about the statutory home care scheme that was promised a number of times. I know the Minister of State says that the latter is coming, but we have been waiting for a long time for it. This is not about entitlement for service users. There is an opportunity to look at an industrial relations framework for this sector and to have an employment regulation order to guarantee certain pay and conditions. If we have low rate of pays, we undercut quality. In addition, there is a lack of continuity. Different carers come to people all the time, which is sometimes very confusing, especially older people who may have dementia. We want a high-quality service. That is something people are entitled to. We just need quality assurance. We need properly trained people, obviously, but we also need people who have compassion and empathy too.
The gaps in provision are putting a lot of pressure on families and family carers in circumstances where additional help is required at times. There is a lot of isolation and loneliness, which we need to look at too. Others are being forced into nursing homes because they cannot get the care necessary to allow them to stay in their homes. We heard from Senator Collins last week about her mother, who could not get care in her home. We need to shore up the sector and ensure that we have sufficient numbers of properly trained people who can provide the care that people require in their homes to allow them to maintain their independence and in order that they will not to have to fit in with a timetable because the carers do not have enough time on their hands.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23