Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question. As I stand here today, 56,000 people the length and breadth of the country will have received home care. At the moment, approximately 3,200 people funded for home care cannot have the service delivered to them because we do not have the staff. Approximately 3,000 people have a partial supply. We are challenged at the weekends, especially in rural areas. We are working on it. I was provided with a budget of €723 million this year. We have extended eligibility for work permits to those outside the EU. One thousand permits were allocated in January of this year. To date, 56 people have come into the country, but we expect much more to happen during the summer. We are trying everything we possibly can. The new tender we are working on concerning private providers will mean that, with respect to every private hour now provided, the private providers will have to pay the living wage and travel time to each person who works for them. We hope that will also make a difference.

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