Back in September 2020 I published a Private Members' Bill on the regulation of professional home care. That was two and a half years ago. In fairness, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has done much work in this area and I have had engagement with the Department of Health on the matter as well. I wish to know where we are on this. I understood the Department was going to publish its own Bill on the issue. We have more and more people requiring home care. Their number is going to continue to grow, and especially so over the next eight years. There is a need for statutory regulation of the provision of home care. Where does the legislation promised by the Department stand?

I thank the Deputy for his continued interest in this. As he knows, home care is so important to the 56,000 people across the length and breadth of the country who receive home care to support them to age well at home. I hope to have this legislation before the House around June. We have done substantial work on it. It is a complicated issue and it is important we legislate and put home care providers on a statutory footing, be they public, private or voluntary.