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

I reiterate what the previous speaker said, namely, that we need to do an awful lot more in terms of people who are qualified to take up vacant posts in our country and who are living here regardless of whether they are asylum seekers or something else. If they are at all suitable and the need is there and if it is an unmet need in local employment terms, we should make sure those people can get their permits and work here.

I welcome the excellent job the Minister of State is doing, the changes he is making and the changes he proposes to make. Time and again in my office and, I am sure, in the Minister of State's office, we see families qualified for home care help. The money is available. There is no issue providing money for home care, but there is nobody to do the work. As a result, a person who has significant unmet medical needs, who wants to live at home and whose family wants them to live at home ends up in a nursing home. There are many people who either do not need or do not want to be in nursing homes. Home care is the direction in which this society is moving. I met representatives from Home Instead recently. They informed me about something like 6,000 vacancies nationally for home carers, which is a huge number.

We saw the controversy about the Ukrainians and the asylum seekers in Killarney. I agree with the Government opting to reverse the decision to move those mothers and children out and put men in their place. The latter just did not make sense. I wonder how many of those men would be suited to, capable of and want to fill the vacancies that are there. In response to a question from Deputy Shortall in May, the Minister of State indicated that he had removed a number of healthcare occupations from the ineligible occupation list. I did not hear him speak because I was elsewhere. I know it is his intention - if it has not already happened - to lift the ban on other people coming in. As our country changes, we must grasp the opportunities that exist. If people are here and are capable of and want to do the work, we must let them. This is the core of it.

The other point is that we must pay people for the work they do. Looking at all the media coverage and reports regarding the appalling incidence of Covid and the thousands of people who died here - hundreds of thousands died around the world - people gave their lives. Some home care assistants and healthcare workers died serving and looking after those people. If we had sufficient and adequate home care, many of those people might not have ended up in the places they were in.

The evidence is clear that people who lived and were looked after in their homes generally had a better health outcome than those who died in nursing homes and other institutions.

It is strong and it needs to happen. The vacancies are there. We need to pay them appropriately but let us make sure asylum seekers who fit the bill can get jobs and our residents, particularly older people, can stay in their homes and be looked after for a longer period of time.

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