Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 January 2026
1117. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health whether her Department has considered the equality and employment law implications of healthcare assistants performing comparable work receiving materially different rates of pay within Section 39 funded services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6371/26]
View answerLast year an agreement was reached between ICTU and relevant Government Departments. This agreement was to fund Health and Social Care, and Homeless sector employers for a 9.25% increase, equivalent to the Public Sector Agreement 2024-2026, and applied only to organisations funded under section 39, 56, 10 and 40 arrangements.
Home support services may have been funded under section 39 arrangements in the past, but the funding model for these services was changed by the HSE in recent years and now all services established to provide homecare support, such as Northside Home Care Services, are funded through the separate tendered authorisation scheme. As such, these organisations are not encompassed by the agreement.
The pay terms are backdated to start from October 2024 with implementation over a two-year period to the end of 2026:
• 2.25% on 1 October 2024
• 1 % on 1 April 2025
• 2% on 1 November 2025
• 2% on 1 April 2026
• 2% on 1 October 2026
As of the 14th January 2026:
• 564 organisations are fully complete and have been recommended for payment– the 2025 WRC 2 funding to these organisations represents €33m of the total €36m to be paid
• 72 organisations have engaged and will be processed when they provide needed information
• 66 organisations contacted have yet to engage
• 19 organisations are not due WRC funding in 2025 as S39 operations have ceased/transferred
Three of the five staged 2025 WRC increases are due with the fourth uplift is scheduled for 1st April 2026.
