Ms Anne Marie Hoey:

In terms of the number of staff employed as healthcare assistants, at the end of January it was just over 20,000. In 2023, we increased the number of healthcare assistants by almost 950 whole-time equivalents, so there was a significant increase last year.

Home help is provided directly by HSE staff and contracted staff. At the end of January we had just over 3,700 home help staff. That is a combination of directly employed staff and contracted staff providing home help services.