Our Story

We are Ireland’s first carer-owned co-operative. The Co-op is a not for profit social enterprise.

The co-op was set up because as carers we were frustrated with poor standards of care for our clients and the poor treatment of carers in the companies we worked for. With support from our funders we designed a better model of home care based on upholding the human rights and dignity of clients and carers.

Group of ten women of diverse backgrounds smiling and posing together indoors, with a banner behind them that reads 'The Great Care Co-op.' The background includes shelves with binders and documents.

A smiling woman with a lanyard greeting an unseen person outdoors.

A caregiver and an elderly woman with grey hair and a pink headband, smiling and holding hands in a loving moment.

Our Co-founders

Our founding members met through the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. After many years of grassroots campaigning for rights and better pay for migrant women working in the care sector in Ireland, we decided that a worker-owned business seemed like a natural solution to the low wages, workplace exploitation and discrimination.

Since 2017 we have been working together using our skills and experience of the home care sector to develop a better, fairer business based carer’s having more autonomy to provide great care and being paid and treated well.

People holding signs and banners at a rally or march for domestic workers' rights. The signs promote respect, recognition, and the importance of domestic work, with a large red banner in the background from the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland.

We are a not-for-profit social enterprise

The money made from the co-op is spent on giving employees better pay and pension contributions. We give travel expenses and soon we hope to give bonuses to carers to give people more income.

All profit is re-invested back into the co-op, improving care quality by improving employment conditions and by investing in training.