That is understandable. I call Deputy Michael Collins. I am trying to accommodate everybody and will insist strictly on questions, not statements.

In the programme for Government the Government promised to increase home help hours to provide seven-day cover per week. We learn now that the HSE has issued an embargo directing no new home help hours are to be allocated to new patients. The HSE is also seeking a reduction in the number of hours being rolled out in west Cork. This is shocking news for those in west Cork who have a home help service and for many new families who urgently require one. It is shocking also for home help workers who provide a top-class service under enormous pressure.

We have the question.

Will the Minister of State intervene personally to lift the embargo?

As I said earlier, the demand for home help hours has always outstripped the supply. The biggest challenge for west Cork, which I also represent, is getting people to provide the service. It is not funding, it is getting personnel. When the Government came into office, we were spending €300 million annually on home help whereas we spent €450 million this year. While that is a 50% increase, it is still not meeting the existing demand. I acknowledge that readily. We are trying to introduce a statutory scheme. I have committed to doing it by 2021. Like the fair deal scheme, the availability of home help will be guaranteed by statute. We have many bridges to cross first.

Will the Minister lift the embargo in west Cork?

This is not a debate.

I asked a question.

This is about generalities, not specifics.