Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue. That report outlines the group’s key findings with regard to the complex challenges affecting the recruitment and retention of care workers. Those recommendations will be progressed immediately via a dedicated implementation group which deals with pay and pensions for home support workers, healthcare assistants and private and voluntary organisations.

The total number of people waiting for home support had reduced from more than 9,000 at the start of 2020 to 5,744 by the end of March 2022. I note that despite capacity challenges, overall service delivery has increased by approximately 17% year-on-year. The additional funding for 5 million more home support hours in 2021 has been maintained. In a sense, that expansion of the programme created difficulties in terms of recruitment. We will go through and particularly activate ones we can do quickly.

See this speech in context