Section 39 health workers provide an invaluable service to the State. There is an issue with regard to the fact that they do not get equal pay. We have a situation whereby a strike is going to happen in this sector imminently. That is to have a devastating effect on the health service. I also refer to the deadline for the announcement regarding the provision of home care services and the tender process in this regard. There does not seem to be any urgency with regard to the way the Department is treating this matter. People working in the healthcare services are being robbed by the HSE. There has been no increase in capacity in the sector. All we are doing is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Unless we get matters right in the context of equal pay, we will end up with major services being cut.

The Deputy asked quite a number of questions. I will comment on that relating to the tender. The HSE is working with the various sectors in order to have the tender in place for 1 May. This tender is going to be different. As the Deputy will be aware, I set up the strategic workforce advisory group last year. The group made 16 recommendations to encourage home care workers back into the market.

This tender will reflect the living wage in regard to tendering out to private organisations and will also reflect travel money and time between travelling. A lot of work is being done and, as a result, we are hopeful this will mean more people going into home care services. We currently have 56,000 people a day receiving home care. The waiting list at present is 3,500 people who are funded but do not receive home care, and there are approximately 3,000 people who receive a partial package but not seven days a week.