Health Services Staff
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Tom Brabazon (FF), Dublin Bay North

I raise the issue of arrangements by section 39 organisations for healthcare assistants in respect of the pay increase agreed last year. I refer specifically to the healthcare assistants at Northside Home Care Services who, apparently, were somehow left out of this pay agreement and are now on strike. Northside Home Care Services provides a vital service to the most vulnerable members of society in the Dublin 5 and Dublin 17 areas of my constituency of Dublin Bay North. Approximately 50 healthcare assistants are now on strike due to their recategorisation as non-section 39 workers.
In replies to parliamentary questions submitted by my immediate predecessor, former Deputy Seán Haughey, in 2024, and by Deputy Dolan last year, the HSE confirmed that Northside Home Care Services is, in fact, a designated section 39 agency. However, while 40,000 other workers in section 39 agencies will see their pay rise, the healthcare assistants at Northside Home Care Services will not see a rise. It is not just the staff who are affected but also those who use the service, and are now without access to it due to the strike action, and their families, who must make alternative arrangements to ensure their loved ones receive the care they require. This means they have to take time off work and cancel appointments in order to attend to their family members and those close to them. Can any intervention be made in respect of this situation?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21