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“IT MUST BE windproof, waterproof, rainproof, all of that!”
BRUNO RAMOS IS laughing as he describes what he would wear on his cycle from house to house during his work as a home care assistant in the inclement Irish weather, very different from the sunshine he grew up with in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Home care assistants, a small but mighty army looking after older people or those who are ill among us day after day, include thousands of migrants. I’m drawn to migrant stories, having moved to the US from Ireland eight years ago.
During the pandemic, both in Ireland and the US, citizens of both countries have realised just how essential migrants are. In the case of home care assistants, their duties are manifold and quite literally vital, as Bruno explains:
We can be doing 30 minutes, just dropping in and reminding them to take their medication, or staying for longer and helping them eat and bathe or get into bed.
Today, Bruno works at a care home in south Dublin, tending to long- and short-term residents, providing care for respite, convalescence, dementia care, acquired brain injury, rehabilitation and palliative care patients. He loves his job, and he is much needed. Despite that, come April, the Irish State will not allow him to continue working.
Immigration
The home care assistant profession is ineligible for employment permits for workers from outside the European Economic Area. Bruno, and hundreds of migrant healthcare workers like him, are on student visas.
He worked as an Intensive Care Unit nurse in Brazil for 18 years before moving to Ireland two years ago, to learn English in the hope of qualifying for the same job here.
His student visa runs out in April and he cannot renew it until September, leaving him stuck and unable to plead his case with the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service because as he tells me (and a number of other migrant healthcare workers confirm): “It is impossible to reach them, and to explain.”
TheJournal.ie was able to reach the service at the Department of Justice, and while they do not comment on individual cases, they made the following statement:
Since March 2020, the Minister has extended immigration permissions on six occasions, and the current extension runs until 20 April 2021. These extensions also apply to those in the State on student permissions. The conditions attaching to student permissions are kept under ongoing review. Any further extension of permission will be considered in light of NPHET and Government advice in relation to restrictions due to the pandemic.
That’s not much help to workers like Bruno, left out in the cold despite the government’s stated appreciation of their work:
The Department acknowledges the difficulties that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on all immigrants including our international student population. Through their participation in part-time and casual employment in many essential services they have made a valuable contribution during extremely difficult times.
It seems self-destructive of the State to acknowledge the value of certain migrants on the one hand, while pushing them out the door with the other, particularly at a time when Ireland needs more carers.
Valuing their work
An investigation by Noteworthy reported that in a submission to the Government in November of 2019 on employment permits, Home and Community Care Ireland (HCCI) estimated “that the home care sector would require an additional 6,000 healthcare assistants (HCAs) among the HSE and HCCI members in 2020 alone”.
It called on HCAs to be placed on the Critical Skills List and to be removed from the Ineligible Occupations List.
The demand for home help care and for residential and intermediate care places in nursing homes and other settings is projected to increase by up to 54% by 2030, according to The Institute for Economic and Social Research (ESRI). But of course, there is no need to look to the future when we are already in an emergency.
In the US, we are inundated daily with stories of frontline migrant workers risking their safety in these awful pandemic days. In Ireland, the story is not told as often, but perhaps it should be.
I spoke to Jandaia Zandonella, a home care assistant originally from São Paulo. She is awaiting her vaccination and in the meantime, she tells me, “I am scared every day.” The risks are all too real. Ireland depends on so many foreign workers to keep the health system going, particularly now.
Last Christmas Eve, a week after being diagnosed with Covid-19, Mariter Terugo died in St Vincents Hospital, the same Dublin hospital she worked in as a healthcare assistant. Mariter had moved to Ireland from The Philippines in 2000. She was described as “A kind-hearted, hard-working woman, she became a fixture on St Andrew’s ward, loved by her colleagues, cherished by the patients she cared for.”
When Irish people clapped, we were clapping for people like her, and Jandaia and Bruno – our ‘health care heroes’.
I’m struck by how much they give to the community here in Ireland, and how little they ask for in return. Workers like Bruno exist here in a type of limbo. All he seeks is a work permit that allows him and other such workers a fair shot. In the US, the question of immigrants’ rights often gets politicised and ugly. There is no need for that to happen in Ireland.
Surely the country is indebted to every healthcare worker for what they’ve risked and who they’ve saved this past terrible year. It is unfortunate but not unfixable that we value those born here more than those born elsewhere.
I put it to Bruno, considering the predicament the Irish State has left him in, would he leave and pursue his ambition to become an ICU nurse in another country, one that would welcome him with open arms instead of obstacles? He would not.
The problem, he tells me, is he’s gotten attached. Ireland feels like home and his patients feel like family. “Actually I wouldn’t like to go to Canada, Australia, New Zealand or any other place where it is easy to get a work visa, I would like to stay here. In Brazil we have an expression: in a winning team, you don’t change the players.”
Maeve Higgins is a writer and comedian and co-host of the climate justice podcast Mothers Of Invention with Mary Robinson.
***
Further information via Department of Justice – non-EEA nationals who are employed or appropriately qualified as nurses or doctors in their country of origin prior to moving to Ireland may be eligible to apply for the Atypical Working Scheme (AWS) before they enter the State. The AWS applies to non-EEA Nationals who in certain circumstances are required by an organisation or company based in the State to undertake work in specific areas, including healthcare. More information about AWS is available on www.inis.gov.ie.
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Rather than importing working, how great would it be to train Irish people to do these jobs, maybe even pay them a decent living wage.
@Munster1: The majority of people in ‘these jobs’ are Irish and wages vary greatly depending on who you work for, outside of HSE directly.
@Munster1: IT is one of the biggest industries in Ireland. It is known for it. Schools do not even teach IT or Computer studies (or not all of them). These are some of the highest paid jobs, and filled with migrants.
@Munster1: they routinely screen out Irish applicants. Their preference is for poor migrants.
Will we ever see an anti immigrant anti asylum seekers article in the Journal. Such an article would demonstrate Irish journalism commitment to free speech and open robust debate
@Richard Russell: I am an immigrant and quite frankly the Irish migrant policies are mad. There is none, no planning, no objectives. Other than lets get as many in. Not talking about asylum seekers as such, more eg migrants from non EU countries, coming in to do a masters and then stay, get spouse over asap and get pregnant asap so that children born here, 1000s every year.. I can understand individual migrants wanting to come over, but what I do not get is that it never been a topic to discuss during elections in in public debate. Irish people shy away from it, that is so unhealthy. Since fabric Irish society is changing rapidly and no one discusses it. Maybe it is changing for the better, but maybe not….
@Richard Russell: short answer: no. long answer: never.
The neo liberal wet dream, an unlimited pool of cheap migrant labour that will be used to keep wages down.
If you ask for better wages and conditions , you’ll soon be told that they can get someone from abroad who will replace you at half the cost.
@roscommonrebel: it is what the EU is about. Max migration, dilute local gen pool, with ultimate objective of getting rid of national sovereign states. All power to Brussels…..
Unfortunately, the reality is the state doesn’t value anyone, Irish or otherwise. Irish carers are incredibly undervalued too. On a seperate note and I know this is harsh, the idea of this section of society who require care being used as a pawn for all migrants to extend student visas to work visas seems a bit unscrupulous. They knew the rules of the visa they applied for.
Thank you Maeve for detailing the very important and caring work that specialised migrant workers help us in our health services.
So the studying is just a cover to come to work in a profession there isn’t any shortage of people at EU level … it seems the employers do not offer fair and within regulations work conditions to the carers such a provision of company car to go to multi- sites and the guarantee their employees have the mandatory minimum level of English to communicate with the customers
So we have people with visa to study English working in a profession that is mandatory a minimum level of English. In the health sector the minimum level of English is the highest level of English examinations
What put off more to the EU qualified carers and nurses to come here is their years of experience are never acknowledge, their paid is deducted for “being on training” and then the English exams to prove their ability to communicate effectively with the patients
The rest of EU professionals and traders, their experience is acknowledged by employers and professionals bodies.
Should be allowed stay, a credit to Brazil and I’d be happy for him to stay here.
And therein lies part of the problem as the govt says that most of the public/civil service can work from home when their databases cannot be accessed at home due to security issues,
@Noel O’Neill: Not sure what this has to do with the article above at all, also it’s completely untrue – staff who can work from home (the vast majority) do so over encrypted VPN, while any staff that cannot perform their duties remotely for whatever reason still attend their place of work in person. I trust that alleviates your concerns.
A lot of middlemen make money in this sector which is a waste of money. It would be better if the HSE didn’t lease this out to private companies. I suppose the concern is they would unionise and demand a living wage.
Today, Ireland treats migrants as prisoners. They cannot leave without a huge tax/fine, they cannot see family unlike those that have family in Ireland. Irelands school system is a joke. One of its highest paid industies is IT, but computer studies is not even taught as a subject in school (or not every school). Ireland still teaches woodwork – but not IT. The pandemic has brought out the worst in Ireland – locking itself away from the rest of the world – or demaning to be locked away. Continue these isolationist policies like border controls and covid tests at 100 a pop and migrants will leave, quaranteen will speed this up. They Ireland will be in serious trouble.
@Tony Humphreys: ? I am a migrant. Am not treated as prisoner at all. What on earth are you on about?
They were heros when ireland’s sick and elderly needed them and this should be recognised. They continued to work during pandemic even though those working in nursing homes are poorly paid and i will always be grateful to them. My mum is treated so kindly in her nursing home and we should do the right thing
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