As my party's spokesperson on older people, I am deeply concerned by the recent news concerning home care providers leaving the market. According to a report on the website of The Irish Times on Sunday, up to 40,000 people who depend on home care may be affected by this decision and their well-being could be in jeopardy. As a society, we have a responsibility to provide adequate care and support to our elderly and vulnerable population. This Government must take immediate action to address this issue and ensure those people requiring home care support can obtain it in a timely manner. I urge the Government to provide clear communication on what actions it intends to take to resolve this issue. It needs to find a solution to keep the providers in the market and guarantee that our loved ones receive the care they need. Let us work together to ensure the most vulnerable members of our communities are not left without support. Earlier, the Minister said the Government would find a solution on housing. It must also find one on this issue, please.

I thank the Deputy. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been doing a great deal of work in this area. Having negotiated several budgets with her, I know she has pressed the case for increased funding very hard. She was extremely successful in securing extra funding.

Since 2021, we have provided an extra €207 million in funding. That is no consolation to anybody who cannot get the home care services they need. Last year, 20.8 million hours of home support were provided across the country and a further 109,000 hours were provided as part of a pilot to test the statutory home support scheme. The budget is in place. Again, the issue is the availability of staff to provide care. We had a discussion earlier about the ageing population and demographic changes. That underlines the fact that this is an issue that will become more important. I wish to take this opportunity to correct something. I said that the number of people aged 65 years and older will double in the next decade. To be accurate, it is over the next two decades.