I raise the ongoing challenge of providing adequate home support hours to some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Every week, families across Carlow and Kilkenny contact my office after being told that approved hours cannot be delivered because there simply are not enough carers available. Older people and people with disabilities are being left without the support they need to remain safely and independently in their own homes. In many cases, family members are forced to step in, often at considerable personal and financial cost.

We all agree that supporting people to live at home for as long as possible is the right approach but that commitment means little when approved services are unavailable. The situation is causing distress and huge pressure for families, hospitals and residential care services. What immediate actions will be taken to ensure approved home support hours are not just approved on paper but are actually delivered in practice?

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue for many people across the length and breadth of the country. We have a target for 2026 of 26.7 million home care hours. Additional hours will be delivered through a mixture of public and private provision, with a focus on addressing persistent waiting lists in certain areas of the country. Preliminary data shows that as of 31 March, 6.55 million hours were provided in the year to date, which is about 541,000 more hours than in the same period last year. A total of 61,000 people were receiving home support at the end of the month, while 66,000 had received home support since the start of the year.

There had been issues previously in respect of recruitment and so forth but the Minister has made, and continues to make, significant progress in relation to that. We will continue to allocate resources to this. It is a growing issue and we will continue to look to address it.