Since being elected to the House, I have always been an advocate for the home help services. I see at first hand the great work they carry out throughout west Cork. I met a large number of home help workers in Clonakilty last week. To say they are frustrated is an understatement. They work long, poorly regulated hours. They aid Clonakilty home help, which serves areas east of Rosscarbery, such as Ardfield and Timoleague, to the Bandon boundary but, for whatever reasons, they are not getting their new contracts. This is different from the home helps in other surrounding areas who are working under better conditions with their new contracts. The workers are pleading with their bosses for the new contracts only to be fobbed off continuously. These home helps deserve better, as do the people of Clonakilty. The workers I met are so frustrated they said they would issue strike action in the new year. Will the Tánaiste communicate to the HSE this wrong being done to so many good, genuine home help workers in the Clonakilty area? Will he get the HSE to give them their long-awaited contracts?

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Some 56,000 people in Ireland currently receive home care. I thank all the home care workers the length and breadth of the country for the phenomenal work they do on a daily basis. I assume the Deputy is referring to the private providers.

No, the HSE.

Okay. The HSE tender is currently being renewed. It was meant to be in place on 1 January. I was informed yesterday that the new tender will not be in place until 1 March. The pay rates for home care workers working for the HSE start at €16.50 per hour plus mileage, which is much more than that paid by private providers. We want to ensure that we get this tender right. We also need to ensure that it will be stated in the tender, where home care is being provided through private providers, that the living wage will have to be paid, in addition to mileage. I will also engage with the Deputy offline on this.