I have been working with many constituents who have loved ones who are either returning from hospital or moving home and who desperately need home care packages. Many people need home care, whether it is a few hours home help or whether it is 24-7 care. We need to ensure we deliver for these vulnerable people. I have been working with older couples in circumstances where, for example, an older person returns home from hospital and their husband or wife is not in a position to take care of them. They also do not have any family who can offer to help. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been working on this matter, and I want to give credit where credit is due. I understand that we are short-staffed in the context of home care. People are contacting me in frustration and panic that they have nobody to help them take care of their loved ones. How do we recruit and retain qualified home care staff?

I thank the Deputy for her very important question. I am in a unique situation in that I have a budget that can fund every home care package in the country. My budget for the delivery of home care across the country is €672 million. Every day, 55,000 people receive home care. The problem is that we currently have approximately 5,300 people awaiting home care. The packages are funded but we have a shortage of staff. I have put in place a strategic workforce planning group working with the stakeholders in order to deliver this. We will be making recommendations very quickly. We are looking at everything, including people from outside the EU coming here to provide home care. We are also looking at targeted supports, such as people who are in a position to work 12, 15 or 18 hours a week to try to provide home support. I want to make home care a viable career option and to support people who choose to go into home care to progress the whole way through.