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THE GOVERNMENT’S OFFER to address the childcare challenges of healthcare workers ‘actively discriminates’ against single parents and will not help the vast majority of nurses, their union has claimed.
Yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar revealed a plan to give paid leave to the partners of healthcare workers if their partners work in the public sector – but not in the health sector. He said this has been approved by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and can be actioned in the next couple of weeks.
However he said NPHET had reservations about child minders going into the homes of healthcare workers and this will only be considered as an option after 5 May.
“They’re not happy for us to do it right now,” he said.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) levelled strong criticism at the proposal, pointing out that many nurses and midwives are lone parents, have partners who are also working on the frontline or do not have partners who are in the public sector.
INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, described it as a “surprisingly old-fashioned concept of family needs”.
“For most of our members with childcare needs, this is worse than irrelevant. It actively discriminates against single parents and many modern families, who will still have the same problems in relation to childcare provision. It cannot be ignored that over 90% of our members are women,” she said.
“We have been seeking a proper solution on behalf of our members for well over a month. We have been bounced back and forth between departments, given endless deadlines for decisions by NPHET.”
Ní Sheaghda said those who can find childcare are “paying over the odds” with some healthcare workers “practically paying to go to work in a high-risk environment”.
The union has called for a package including options of:
“Ireland’s nurses and midwives are risking their lives to provide care. The very least that the state can do is take care of their children when they go to work. Instead, our members are told to simply get on with it – forced to choose between caring for patients or their children.”
Asked about the possibility of further provisions for childcare workers before 5 May, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said any other recommendations made by NPHET on this issue will be for the period after that date.
He said any decisions made at that stage will be conditional on the path of the disease at that time.
“And it’s conditional on the preparations that are happening intensively at the moment within the HSE to build the sampling, testing and contact tracing capacity so can have sufficient assurance we can pick up new cases in an environment where we’re easing restrictions” he said.
Dr Holohan said it was not accurate to say he had “concerns” about childcare workers going into the homes of healthcare workers.
“The current phase we’re in at the moment is to, as much as possible, maximise the right kinds of behaviour in the population. That’s why we keep emphasising the importance of hand washing, respiratory etiquette, social distancing and so on, and responsiveness to and an awareness of the kinds of symptoms that are important. And then a range of other measures that we have in our society designed to separate us as much as possible.”
He said NPHET will consider, before taking any step, whether it will increase the level of circulation and the contact between people that increases the risk of infection.
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Oh the unions are back! Surely normality can’t be far away
@ThatLJD: Can you give an idea what Ireland would be like under FG without unions? What would the ordinary workers’ rights be like under unchecked neo-liberalism?
@ThatLJD:
Everyone going on about the “heroes” working in healthcare, but when the same heroes organise themselves to get better conditions suddenly everyone goes back to union bashing.
Frankly, I don’t know how anyone can put up with nursing. You’d have to pay me twice my current salary to do that job, and from the figures it looks like I make almost twice what the average nurse does right now. I don’t have to work nights or weekends, I don’t have to deal with junkies or the entitled dopes who think A&E works like a queue at tescos, I don’t have to work 12 hour shifts, and I’m not put in danger to infectious disease.
Support our healthcare workers, they’re doing a tough job, and this is their union. You bash their union, you’re bashing them. Save your clapping if you have a problem with their union bringing up childcare issues.
@ThatLJD: funny to think the INMO are suddenly concerned about poor packages offered to nurses…
@TheHeathen: well weve seen what the INMO did for nurses. Dragged to them out to the front lines for Phil to show everyone what she can do. Sent them back in with a bottle of cadet orange and a package of crisps and proudly declared a triumph.
@TheHeathen: I think I should clarify, I don’t have a problem with trade union ideology, I do however have a problem with how most trade unions are run. I get they’ve proposed some alternatives in this instance, however, in most cases its unbalanced and unrealistic, that’s when they even propose alternatives. Added to that, have trade unions offered to suspend fees for anyone at this time? I’d be of the opinion that most trade unions in Ireland are so far removed from the ideology they aspire that they’re no better than the political parties they criticise.
@ThatLJD: The man that threatened nurses with fines if they did not return to work when on strike , Is back .The man who disappeared during the election is back. The man whose party Lost the election is back. The same man was Minister for Health , The same man who left a crumbling health service behind him His Name is Simon Harris . You attack the unions… Sweet Jesus.
@Donal Desmond: i don’t think there have been many decent ministers for health, even Noel Browne struggled in the role. However, I wasn’t commenting on health ministers. I think the good people out there working, as nurses etc. have been unashamedly let down by unions for a long long time.
@ThatLJD: Good reply, thanks. I agree with you for the most part, just watching trade unionists join/become/be the political elite is galling. Beardy as an example of a sell out, pushing nis way to the trough. Unions do however have to pick unrealistic targets to get to the middle ground, or else the politicians would walk all over the ordinary worker even more.
@TheHeathen: well I didn’t want you thinking I was unreasonable, now did I! Now, have you no work to be getting back to or are you one of these lay about spongers (a joke to go along with the unreasonable comment)! Have a good day H
@ThatLJD: I agree the unions let their membership down when agreeing to take cuts and the change of employment conditions and giving up hard fought rights to facilitate the F.G/ so called Labour party to repay for the criminal açts of the banks and developers facilitated by politicians. Unfortunately union leadership are mostly conservative. They have power but refuse to use it.
@Donal Desmond: Conservative, in-Competent, Comfortable. One of the C’s I’d hazard a guess! If I was interested in joining a union I would take a long hard look at its effectiveness. I would say most people join out of fear and to cover any legal expenses. That’s about all. Unions don’t have a massive amount of power these days and make the same threats for years, they need to adjust their approach to things if they want to survive. That might come if it was known how much of union fees are wasted and bloated salaries of those at the top. All animals are equal, some more equal than others!
@: A&E nursing is tough, all other areas are handy enough.
@TheHeathen: Ireland is now completely driven by our public sector. This is quite clear if you read the article. FG is very socialist,their careers & income are entirely dependant on the state. Ireland is a very socialist country.
To clarify also. I do not clap or have any banner on my Facebook etc. I have great respect for health care workers and always had and its just increased lately. I do not indulge in clapping either as no one would hear me but don’t mock those who do. Anyway it’s not the health care workers who I’m picking a bone with it’s the union, it’s two different things. I don’t agree with the government policy in this either, however its great to hear the union bemoan how they’ve been attempting to make contact on this and then come out with their solution now. I wonder how much of that is true and what consultation the union did with its members. Surely its in every ones best interests to get this right, unions have a delightful excuse of always of blaming others.
While I welcome some effort was made for childcare for our front line but surely this doesn’t go far enough. It was probably more ill thought out with rushed decisions . Back to the drawing board lads
@Joe Mc: so how do you solve the problem? There seems to be very little that can be done in a lockdown situation. Childcare will be a big issue even when lockdown is eased.
@sjr: I think in this instance that a childcare facility just for frontline staff is appropriate and badly needed. Plenty of nurses are single parents and have no where to turn. And it should be free
@sjr: how are other essential workers managing? Shop workers gardai etc? It costs everyone to go work
@Joe Mc: so you would open a childcare facility for kids of nurses. Those kids have no idea how to social distance. If one kid has it, they pass it onto the rest and the health service loses a lot of nurses. You criticize the government and then come up with an idiotic solution.
@Alan:
Ah, the typical “what about THESE GUYS they have it worse so shut up” response.
Listen, it’s a nurses union, they represent nurses and midwives. I don’t hear them saying “only we should get childcare”, but simply representing the people they exist to represent.
If other groups unionise and make similar demands, I doubt you’ll see the INMO criticise them for it.
While the government started out well in relation to COVID-19, that initial bounce in support seems to be starting to crumble, a number of ill conceived suggestions that you could be forgiven for thinking were thought up Montessori kids including this one are doing them no favours………
@Sean Higgins: The initial bounce phase was completely managed by the health experts and FG hung on to their coat tails and kind of looked good. Now that we have moved onto trying to implement non-medical processes FG are being shown up for the incompetents that they are unfortunately.
@Sean Higgins: I don’t think they actually really ever did well, they flung taxpayer money at instant problems without any foresight. Overpaying for private hospitals, full Covid payment for hundreds of thousands of part time workers, business support schemes that were full of red Tape, over paying for defective PPE…….
They failed miserably in the prevention stage, Cheltenham, Italian rugby fans, closure of pubs and worst of all the reopening of nursing homes. Whoever made that decision is directly responsible for hundreds of extra deaths.
They media gave them a free pass for a month, at least now some tricky questions are beginning to be asked.
Leo and Simon H are no better now than they were before election
It’s such a weird solution. So the Govt are paying the creches, we as essential workers are also paying the creche worker to come and mind the kids (under the table) so we can work but the Govt won’t sanction ordering this formally. Crazy.
@Sinead Mooney: The government pulled all childcare funding the week they closed them. The ‘bail out’ scheme they promoted is not a bail out scheme, it’s a wage subsidy scheme that will close most services and after 5 weeks it’s still not ready. If they had left childcare funding in place you would see services come together to solve this but since all funding was pulled and contracts were torn up, these services are now closed and unwilling to trust the government. They couldn’t have made it any messier if they had tried.
Anothe Brainless idea from Harris
I genuinely don’t understand the initiative. I’m a frontline HSE worker (not a nurse) and my husband is frontline Tusla shift worker. Are we excluded from the scheme? Who exactly is eligible?
Government should use nanny agencies that already exist and reimburse health care workers who use it.
I think that this article shows very little insight and that journos are stuck in formulas that are about fifty years old.
This is the first time that minding children in the home by their parents had been seen as important enough to be paid to do it. also start if basic income strategy.
Very cutting edge and not old fashioned.
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