I raise the issue of home care hours being granted but not fulfilled in south Kildare. A constituent contacted my office to say she was granted a home care package four weeks ago but it has still not been fulfilled. The lady is relying on her husband who is over 70 years to care for her and her personal needs. This man has been diagnosed with cancer and is simply unable to continue. My office team and I are contacted regularly by older people who have been granted care that has not been fulfilled or where if a carer is out sick, the family must step up at short notice. When my office contacted the HSE and the Minister, the silence was palpable. Older people are struggling with many issues. It is time the Government stepped up and addressed the serious issues affecting them around care. Last week, I also raised an issue last week relating to the care for an elderly man. What is the Government going to do to tackle waiting lists for home care and provide the care these people deserve?

I want to acknowledge that we have a real problem finding home carers across the country at the moment. It is not a matter of money; it is a matter of finding staff and finding people willing to do the work. We have expanded the number of hours very considerably in recent years. We are taking two actions. One is a package of improvements to pay terms and conditions to encourage more people to become home carers and work in that field. The second is the issuing of work permits. In the past we did not issue work permits to people to come to Ireland from outside the EU to provide home care. That is now being done.