2026-01-21

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?

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important issue in regard to arrangements by section 39 organisations for healthcare assistants. First, I acknowledge the important role section 39 grant-funded organisations and staff play in our health sector, particularly the healthcare assistants working within those organisations. They have a key role in providing services to people with disabilities and older people in our communities. In the previous Dáil, as Minister of State with responsibility for older people, I worked very closely with various organisations and met with people from Northside Home Care Services, who do phenomenal work. I recall they were classed as walkers because a lot of their work is done in streets immediately close to where they live, which means they do not have to be jumping in and out of cars. As I stand here today, approximately 56,000 to 57,000 people all over the country will receive home care. It is hugely important to support people to live for as long as possible in their own homes with those vital supports of home care, daycare and meals-on-wheels services. I certainly will raise the Deputy's specific issue with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, under whose remit it falls. Under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive provides assistance to organisations that provide services similar to a service the HSE may provide. However, section 39 grant-funded organisations are privately owned and run, and the terms and conditions of employment of staff in those organisations, once in line with employment legislation, are strictly between the employer and the employee. In relation to terms and conditions for those working in section 39 grant-funded organisations, an agreement was reached at the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, on 10 March 2025, between Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, unions and relevant Departments to fund a 9.25% pay increase for health and social care and homeless sector employers, equivalent to increases given under the Public Service Agreement 2024-2026. That was a breakthrough and it was welcomed by all sectors. The pay terms are backdated to start from October 2024, with implementation over a two-year period to the end of 2026, comprising 2.25% on 1 October 2024, 1% on 1 April 2025, 2% on 1 November 2025, 2% on 1 April 2026 and 2% on 1 October 2026. This agreement applies to organisations grant-funded under section 39 of the Health Act 2004, section 56 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 and section 40 of the Domestic, Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Agency Act 2023. These workers are employed in community and voluntary organisations that are not public bodies. It is only organisations in these categories that are within the scope of the agreement, and therein lies the problem. I am not sure of the details in regard to Northside Home Care Services and why its staff fall outside the scope of the agreement. Many healthcare assistants work in home care, which is now a tendered service and is not grant funded through the section 39 provisions and, as such, there are organisations and workers who are not encompassed by the agreement. While the agreement is substantial and provides increases for a broad range of employees across sections 10, 39, 40, and 56 funded organisations, it encompasses only those organisations that are grant funded and does not encompass tendered services. Funding for services commissioned through tendering arrangements is not covered in the agreement as those services are separately contracted with relevant providers. Related considerations can be dealt with through existing procurement processes. When the Deputy responds, he might be able to explain a little more about the situation of Northside Home Care Services. I think he said it was previously classified by the HSE as a section 39 organisation but is now falling outside that scope and, even though an agreement was made with ICTU for an uplift for staff of section 39 organisations, its staff are not able to avail of it.

I thank the Minister of State. A response to a parliamentary question in 2024 stated that Northside Home Care Services was categorised as a section 39 organisation. The HSE has communicated to these particular workers' representative body that the issue is due to their employer tendering rather than receiving a grant. We have always had a principle in labour law in this country that there be equal pay for equal work. This group of people are being discriminated against by virtue of how their employer is being paid. It is completely unjust, unfair and inequitable. Will the Minister of State or her colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who has specific responsibility for this issue, meet with these people and intervene in this dispute? It is not just affecting the workers; it is also affecting the clients of Northside Home Care Services, who are elderly and vulnerable, as the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is well aware. The workers will be outside Leinster House at 10 a.m. this morning. There is an opportunity for the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to go outside and meet them and discuss their grievances.

I certainly will raise this issue with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, this morning. I am not sure whether he is in the building right now. I understand he is not, which is why I am here taking this Topical Issue. I appreciate that some groups, and these workers are not the only such group, are not covered by the WRC agreement and may be disappointed. However, the agreement reached covers only grant-funded organisations, which means it does not apply to those organisations that tender as against receiving a grant. Funding for services commissioned through tendering arrangements are not covered in this agreement as they are separately contracted with relevant providers. I will speak to the Minister of State to see whether any intervention can be made or, at least, whether it can be looked at to see what is the situation. My understanding is that there might be some other organisations that are in the same circumstances. I will speak to my colleague later in the day.