Ms Gráinne Loughran:

It was in the draft regulations. The last update that we received was that the regulations were out for legal drafting. We are not exactly sure the point they have reached. We know they were removed partly because of feedback, potentially from private organisations which stated that the need for QQI level 5 would negatively impact the current recruitment challenges, the delays in the QQI certification process and the need to not be too restrictive in the regulations. Apprenticeships and traineeships for home support workers were reported to be on the table, with the possibility of mirroring the process put in place for nursing home care assistants. After a follow-up, we are informed that the reason for the removal was to allow for keeping this open in order to future-proof the regulations for new qualifications that might come on stream.