Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Does the Cabinet subcommittee on health have a focus on recruitment? It is a very significant issue that impacts community services right across the country. In my area of CHO 4, which is the area of Cork and Kerry, up to 20% of posts for home care assistants were left vacant. These are people who deliver services to people in their homes. This keeps them out of the hospital and allows them to more independently in their communities. It also gives backup to their carer. The Cope Foundation in Macroom, for example, was to have a seven-day service well over a year ago, but it struggled to recruit people. It has taken them until now to make headway on that. Similarly, we have looked abroad to make visas available to people to come into the EU and the country to work. Six months on, of those 1,000 visa applications, no more than 100 have been approved. There needs to be an urgency on recruiting people.

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