Mr. Damien McCallion:

The preference is always to use home care as a first stop if that is medically possible because it works better than putting people into step-down facilities and then home care. In terms of Cork and Kerry, I know they have undertaken a series of initiatives in the last while to try to increase the number of people employed in the public home care system. Again, I would say that there are parts of the country where this is challenging geographically in terms of the recruitment and retention of home care assistants. Some of the changes that were announced this year, including the additional funding for private arrangements, will hopefully help, as well as the recognition of the pay needs of home carers. It is a vital role-----