Ba mhaith liom buíochas a ghabháil leis an Aire Stáit teacht isteach chun an cheist seo a fhreagairt.
The decision by the Government to increase the pay for some child care workers is a very welcome and long overdue development. I understand the increases to range between 19% and 27%, and up to 44.8%, for those who were most badly paid in the past. It is the largest percentage increase yet negotiated under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. This should help attract new people into the area of child care. It will go some way in redressing what has been a very poor rate of pay. According to the Irish Journal of Applied Social Studies, residential child care workers may work up to 64 hours in a week and be paid only £2 per hour for 16 of those hours. Many of us, especially those familiar with places such as Oberstown, Trinity House and the many health board premises in Dublin, are well aware of the difficult and stressful conditions that many of the child care workers have to operate in. Better all-round employment conditions will hopefully help to recruit and retain residential child care staff.
Last March, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly – who has played a tremendous role in highlighting the child care crisis in our health services – said he was profoundly disturbed to discover 50 children had been placed in accommodation run by a private security company because of the lack of health board personnel. A particular concern has been raised about how all encompassing these new changes will be. Will the new changes be extended to residential child care staff working with those with intellectual disabilities? I understand a letter from the IMPACT trade union was sent to the Minister for Health and Children early in April, seeking clarification on this point among others, and a response has not been received other than a standard acknowledgment.
Heretofore there were similar grades in these two main areas with the same qualifications and particulars of office. The new arrangements will abolish the house parent and assistant house parent grades, replacing them with two new grades of child care worker and child care leader. It would appear to be completely untenable to have two different regimes in the two services with different rates of pay. The result of this would be to drain workers away from the area of dealing with those with intellectual disabilities to the higher paying sections of residential child care. This would effectively be robbing Peter to care for Paul.
Will the Minister state precisely what the new arrangements will be for the workers in the entire residential child care area and clarify whether there will be a similar regime for all workers, or a divided system with one set of grades and pay for some child care workers and another set for those who work with the intellectually disabled? In considering these concerns of care workers I ask that a practice of paying increments to child care workers promptly be established. A tendency to delay payments of increments has developed. For example, an increase in the sleep-over allowance was granted more than a year ago but some child care workers are still waiting those increments. Others have been overpaid and are now obliged to repay their health board this difference.
The Minister might also carry out an assessment of the resources available to the salary sections of each health board. If extra staff are needed for payment offices let them be appointed so that when this inconsistency in relation to different rates of pay is resolved all staff will be paid a proper and equitable wage, and paid promptly.