Stop taking carers for granted

■ Carers everywhere went above and beyond the call of duty during Storm Emma, despite the fact that they earn poor wages, have little guarantee of work and very little opportunity for advancement.

Will Storm Emma finally wake us up to the importance of these social champions? Isn’t it time we examined how we can make caring a more attractive and valued career?

Primarily, carers need to earn higher wages commensurate with the tough and important work they are carrying out. We also need to move away from zero-hour-type contracts and give them much more certainty of work. The nature of a carer’s work is that they have to travel a lot and as such they need to be paid for that cost and time.

The HSE is the biggest funder of home care and they currently commission home care to a limited number of approved agencies, including my own. This places a lot of power into these agencies’ hands.

How about limiting that power by allowing families, where appropriate, to use their home care packages directly with a suitable local carer?

Or why not introduce the European court’s Tyco ruling into Ireland whereby travelling employees with no fixed work place, such as carers, have to be paid from the moment they leave their homes?

The demand for carers is increasing because of our changing demographics and we need to stop taking carers for granted, otherwise the next time we are hit by extreme weather conditions, we might find ourselves paying a very high price!

Michael Harty Managing director, Home Care Direct, Stillorgan, Co Dublin