The situation regarding home helps and the provision of home help is appalling all over the country, but especially in south Tipperary and west Waterford. I have been dealing with the case of a constituent of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, namely a 92-year-old man from Tooraneena who had home help provided by a gentleman through Home Instead. That gentleman has now decided to move to the HSE but the HSE will not allow him to keep caring for the person. I have engaged with the Dungarvan team and it has been very helpful, but it just does not have the staff. Answers are trotted out here to the effect that there are heaps of money but the Government knows better than I do that the staff are not available. It is shameful to see elderly people in these circumstances. With a little home help, they could be kept out of hospital, with all that entails, including costs. The man in question is not recovering well. Can the Taoiseach or the Minister of State please do something meaningful in this case? Those involved have been in touch with the office of the Minister of State as well. We encounter these cases hourly in our offices. Every day of the week, people cannot get home help. A little is all they want but they cannot get it.

I thank the Deputy for the question. As I stand here today, 56,000 people the length and breadth of the country will have received home care. At the moment, approximately 3,200 people funded for home care cannot have the service delivered to them because we do not have the staff. Approximately 3,000 people have a partial supply. We are challenged at the weekends, especially in rural areas. We are working on it. I was provided with a budget of €723 million this year. We have extended eligibility for work permits to those outside the EU. One thousand permits were allocated in January of this year. To date, 56 people have come into the country, but we expect much more to happen during the summer. We are trying everything we possibly can. The new tender we are working on concerning private providers will mean that, with respect to every private hour now provided, the private providers will have to pay the living wage and travel time to each person who works for them. We hope that will also make a difference.