Mr. Seán Moynihan:

Both of them are probably covered by the current recruitment freeze. While we would welcome the implementation of Sláintecare and the likes of enhanced community care, where more people have been employed in the community, these gaps are going to lead to people needing more care, possibly needing higher levels of home support or possibly needing to go into nursing homes prematurely on the basis of the provision of some of the basic practical tasks of health and hygiene having been reduced, given we do not provide basic home care tasks. On top of that, without occupational therapists and primary healthcare nurses, the critical links to the healthcare system are not really there in the community if they are not equitably available throughout the country.