Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I very much welcome the initiatives but they do not change the fact that home care was provided by the State through the HSE and that has changed now. I get glossy brochures regularly from big companies that are moving into this area and treating it as a market rather than what I believe it should be, which is a career for people.

My point is I do not see any sign of a national recruitment drive. I see no ads on the television. I do not hear it on the radio. I welcome the Minister of State's initiatives on visas for people coming from abroad or outside the EU but we are not doing enough. We must tackle it. We must make it a career. It was a career in the health service; it was respected and was acknowledged as a very important one. We need to recruit full-time carers into the HSE, pay them and give them a career. The people want them and need them. It keeps them out of inappropriate care and out of acute hospitals. As I said, 90 such people were in acute hospitals at the end of March taking up beds because they could not go home. I welcome the Minister of State's initiatives but we need more action.

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