Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I certainly will look into it. The Deputy can give the details to me or the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and we will certainly take a look. The Minister of State and I are very much aware that while there are millions more home care hours being delivered and they are providing an awful lot of support to individuals and families right across the country,l a little more than 3,000 people have been approved for funding and are waiting. The Minister of State led a really important new contract that has been taken up, which improves the terms and conditions for home carers.

It sets out a minimum base for the living wage and it has payments for travel time. Our aim is to go from 21.5 million hours delivered this year to adding another 0.5 million hours next year as well. Our hope is that is exactly the kind of expansion that will help the families the Deputy references, who we are acutely aware are in need of that support.

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