Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to acknowledge that we have a real problem finding home carers across the country at the moment. It is not a matter of money; it is a matter of finding staff and finding people willing to do the work. We have expanded the number of hours very considerably in recent years. We are taking two actions. One is a package of improvements to pay terms and conditions to encourage more people to become home carers and work in that field. The second is the issuing of work permits. In the past we did not issue work permits to people to come to Ireland from outside the EU to provide home care. That is now being done.

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