Ms Yvonne O'Neill:

I apologise for cutting across Mr. McCallion but, to be helpful, there were more than 570 new healthcare assistants in CHO services in 2022. Unfortunately, as the Senator and other members will be aware, the age profile means that we have a significant number of retirements. It is difficult for recruitment levels to keep up with the churn. In that regard, to be fair, the Government and the Minister have helpfully provided for 1,000 visas in that international recruitment endeavour. There is a range of issues and challenges in respect of how those recruits can be brought into the workforce, particularly the private workforce. Those issues relate to minimum contracts. To be fair, we and the Department are working through how to enable that to the maximum.