Social housing concerns in Enniscorthy district
AT last week’s special housing meeting, Cllr Cathal Byrne highlighted the lack of a plan for the provision of social housing outside of the main urban areas.
Looking at his own Enniscorthy District, Cllr Byrne noted that the only planned social housing was in the main town or Ferns.
‘I’d like to see some social housing outside of the main town areas,’ he said.
‘A lot of people want to reside in villages. At a recent meeting it was revealed that Irish Water had submitted a prioritised list of villages for development and I’d like to know if councillors can be provided with this. I think we as councillors should have a say in which villages are developed.’
Head of Housing Niall McCabe replied that for now the focus is on the main villages and ‘ those that have enough water facilities’.
‘Outside of Ferns, in the Enniscorthy area we don’t have any at present,’ he said.
‘We’re looking at housing demand in other areas to see if we can make progress on sites.’
Over 40 SIPTU members working at Camphill Communities at Duffcarrig in Ballymoney, have voted unanimously in favour of taking industrial action in a dispute over funding and working conditions.
The union representing the majority of employees in Duffcarrig, including social care assistants, health care assistants, house coordinators and workshop leaders, announced that the first 24-hour work stoppage will take place on March 12, starting at 8 a.m., with a level of service expected to be maintained to ensure residents are not at risk.
Duffcarrig is one of 16 Camphill Communities around the country, providing day care and residential services for people with intellectual disabilities and other special needs in a homebased setting.
SIPTU Industrial Organiser Ger Malone said the vote has taken place aginst a backdrop of long-standing industrial issues and what she termed a grossly deficient funding model underwritten by the Health Service Executive (HSE) which members say is failing the residents and staff.
‘Our members are stretched too thin and beyond their capacity, working excessive hours with many suffering with various stress-related illnesses, including burn-out and anxiety.
‘It appears that the HSE and management believe they can replicate a HSE model with the same standards for a fraction of the cost and with half the staff. It is not realistic or sustainable and workers are at breaking point’.
Camphill Communities CEO Ann Sheehan said the organisation has been engaging with staff at Duffcarrig and their representatives, SIPTU, to resolve a range of issues over the past year.
‘While the union has served notice of industrial action on Camphill, the talks process between the two sides will continue and we are determined to reach a resolution of the issues satisfactory to both sides.’
‘Meanwhile, Camphill is engaging with the HSE about putting contingency arrangements in place for our community members with support needs should the proposed industrial action go ahead’.
Employees have cited underfunding and consequential understaffing as an ongoing problem which, they claim, is compromising the safety, health and welfare of residents and staff and is exacerbated by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
SIPTU members say agency staff are a constant feature, causing higher levels of insecurity and anxiety amongst residents due to unfamiliar people and different approaches leading to upset and behavioural problems, compounded by the fact that staff are frequently too over-stretched to give the necessary time to provide the comfort and care required.
Ms Malone said some workers in Duffcarrig report they are working 12-hour shifts without breaks due to staffing shortages and some report having to work 60 hours per week for the same reason.
‘Staffing levels are cut to a minimum with over reliance on co-workers who are volunteers there to gain work experience but find themselves working excessive hours with inadequate training and experience for no pay.
‘ Those volunteers are often left working on their own at night without the qualifications to deal with the types of scenarios that can arise.
‘Employees reported working with residents on their own, making it impossible to take proper breaks including toilet breaks. Workers describe being in a state of perpetual anxiety.
‘Complying with Covid safety measures is a challenge for workers every minute of the day and dealing with the physical and emotional effects on residents is even more challenging. The workers are expected to cope with no additional supports or resources.
‘ The reality is that the needs of these vulnerable residents are not being met and the staff are not prepared to stand by and accept that any longer,’ said Ms Malone.
She said management are constantly imposing HSE policies but omitting and or diminishing any provisions that provide staff benefits including ‘scandalously slashing sick pay provision and terms and conditions in the middle of a pandemic’.
‘It is like expecting to get a Mercedes for the price of a Lada, it just is not possible. The HSE should know what it costs to fund these services. They know the price they must pay to get the quality of care that our most vulnerable citizens and professional care workers deserve.
‘ The reality is that SIPTU members in Camphill Communities are providing a first-class service and made Camphill Communities a home for residents. They firmly believe that if the necessary staffing levels and funding are not put in place this “home from home” model will collapse.’
Aoife Kehoe has been working in Camphill for over seven years and said a combination of factors has brought workers to this point of industrial action.
Staff have become overwhelmed with new responsibilities without any additional incentives and supports while still trying to provide the time and patience needed to care for residents and this has led to high staff turnover and short and long-term stress leave, she said.
Ms Kehoe said changes had been enacted which made working in Campill impossible for many, especially carers and single parents, with shift patterns and workloads leading to burn-out and a system that does not support staff members in crisis.
‘While we appreciate that management have their own agendas to reconcile, we are no longer willing to let that be at a consequence to our members and the residents of Camphill. We are appealing to them, the HSE and the public to support Camphill and all frontline residential workers in achieving a supportive and cooperative working environment that recognises the needs of all involved as opposed to the needs of regulators.’
Evelyn Martin who has worked in Camphill for ‘a long time’, said morale is very low among staff, who have been left to work 12-hour shifts with three residents on their own, without breaks, and they are not even paid HSE rates.
Jennifer Duffy handed in her notice at Camphill in Duffcarrig a few weeks ago, having been employed as a Social Care Worker there since late 2018.
She said she was dreading her last day and was preparing to leave with a heavy heart. ‘No words can describe or sum up the sadness I will feel when saying goodbye to the residents I have grown to understand and to love, each with their own unique and endearing personalities and their own way of communicating.’
Ms Duffy said staffing levels in Duffcarrig directly contribute to the needs of residents being unfulfilled and understaffing has led to an increased workload and stress for staff.
‘Covid-19 will undoubtedly be put forward as a reason for Camphill’s inadequacies but these problems were in existence pre- Covid’, she said.
‘I am leaving this job because I can no longer endure my concerns about residents being ignored and diminished. I can no longer stay in this job because I can no longer endure the emotional pain I see in some residents; despite my best efforts to highlight their needs and despite my best efforts to help them.
‘I cannot work for any organisation whose carpets have become lumpy due to the amount of things brushed and hidden under them. The staff in Camphill are of the highest calibre, are thoroughly devoted to their work but are impeded at every hands turn and their voices are not heard. If Camphill won’t listen to those with a voice, what chance have the voiceless?’, she asked.
COMPUTER courses run in community halls across the county should be moved online as they are vitally important to isolated people’s mental health.
This is the view of Jim Foran of Foran Computers who ran a series of 40 courses in 2019 on behalf of Irish Rural Link.
The courses were computer courses aimed at rural communities and getting people online.
‘We also had courses designed for the farming community which the learned how to register on the Agfood.ie site and how to use the AIMS system and register animals online. As it turned out the courses were of huge benefit to the over 300 participants that took part as the lockdown followed and online life became the norm,’ Jim said.
The computer courses were free and Jim was the tutor on behalf of Irish Rural Link. Funded by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, the courses were held in local community centres and parish halls with the local committees getting the free computer courses into their areas.
The courses were based on 10 hours which worked out at two hours on a particular night or morning of the week for five weeks.
‘Courses were designed for all and we had participants of all ages and levels. With many shops and post offices etc closing in rural Ireland the courses provided a great social event for many of the elderly, we would have a 15 minute break after one hour and this allowed for great chats and every one getting to see each other again.’
At the end of 2019, and after completing almost 40 courses, Jim took a break in mid-December and resumed again in February 2020.
‘I was sure the momentum was gone and I wondered if the courses would be as popular again. I got in touch with my contacts in each parish and to my surprise the interest was as high if not greater than before. We had ten courses lined up from Ballycanew to Fethard-on-Sea and many parishes in between. I was delighted and so were Irish Rural Link and while the classes normally consisted of six or eight to a class we had our first course to begin in Bridgetown with ten participants attending.’
The course in Bridgetown had started sometime in February, with plenty of interaction and the participants were really involved with it. ‘However after the third week lesson Covid-19 had kicked in and our courses were closed down. It was a huge blow and many of the participants were very disappointed, as was I, but of course we knew it was the correct decision. All other courses we had arranged in various parishes also had to be put on the long finger.
‘We had rearranged and thought they might get going again last September but alas we had to pull the plug on that again. Then there was news that there might be a chance of getting something up and running around Christmas 2020 with small numbers but alas that went by the wayside also.’
News of the vaccines brought some hope for Jim but that has been dampened by the latest lockdown and the continuation of tight restrictions, ‘ This will have a negative effect on our courses. The courses were a huge help to many during the pandemic as everyone’s life went online.
We would love to roll out the courses again as it would be of great benefit to many struggling with the online new world however we totally understand the need for the restrictions. We had a webinar about the problems we face and how to get people online or onto training again https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=ps_ZnV6KJzU’
He has contacted the department with a view to trying to get funding to run the courses online. ‘At this stage it looks like we will not get our courses up and running for quite a while. We will continue to work on it and we are still putting proposals to the department to see if we can get the go ahead.’