Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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13. To ask the Minister for Health when the HSE will allow the home support service in Donegal to resume recruitment for healthcare assistants to address the growing waiting list for the service in the county.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17182/26]

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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This question relates to the waiting lists of 324 for home support services in Donegal. I am very clear from speaking to staff in the service that the HSE recruitment policies are preventing it from recruiting the necessary assistants to get those waiting lists down. That also has a knock-on impact on Letterkenny University Hospital. I wish to get a sense of what is happening and why it is happening.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Addressing the home support waiting list is a priority for me in 2026 and the HSE National Service Plan 2026 includes, for the first time, an explicit target to reduce waiting times. As part of this, I have secured funding for an additional 257 directly employed staff in 2026, with the highest allocation of 56.5 healthcare assistants, HCAs, and three managers going to the west and north-west region. I can assure the Deputy that there is no pause or restrictions on recruiting healthcare assistants in Donegal, and increasing recruitment remains an active priority for me.

Since September 2025, 39 additional healthcare assistants have been hired and commenced work in Donegal. In addition to this, a further 43 candidates have been offered roles, are progressing through pre-employment checks and are expected to take up employment over the coming weeks. Rolling recruitment campaigns are ongoing in the area. A recent recruitment drive for healthcare assistants resulted in a further 50 candidates being scheduled for interview. These interviews are scheduled to commence this week, 2 March. This pipeline will increase staffing levels further in the coming weeks. The agency conversion programme is also strengthening stability. Of 46 agency staff engaged, 42 have now been onboarded, including ten in Donegal since October who have moved to permanent HSE roles. The HSE continues to work closely with local education and training bodies to support a sustainable long-term workforce pipeline for the region in Donegal.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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We are very proud in Donegal that we have the strongest level of home care assistance delivered directly by the State through the HSE and that is the way we want to keep it. My concern is that there is an agenda to privatise the service in Donegal, that is, to hold back recruitment in the public system and secure the services of private providers. I am aware of incidents in Donegal where the HSE has had to step in after a poor service by private providers. There are real concerns around this. The facts do not lie. The waiting lists are growing. There are 324 people waiting. That is not just about those families and, of course, the people themselves not having that level of support; it also impacts, as I said, on Letterkenny University Hospital. It means more people in the emergency department because we cannot release patients back into the community. I want to get a sense and assurance from the Minister of State that this is not about a privatisation agenda.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Mac Lochlainn. I assure him that there is an intensive recruitment campaign for healthcare assistants for Donegal. As I said, 39 additional healthcare support assistants have been hired since September to the Donegal services for home support.

Furthermore, 43 candidates have been offered roles and are currently progressing through pre-employment checks. Seventeen of those are cleared to commence, and a further 26 candidates are currently in pre-employment clearance. A recent recruitment drive by the HSE has resulted in a further 50 candidates being scheduled for interview. These interviews are taking place now. There is a commitment and approval to recruit an additional 257 directly employed staff in 2026. That is on top of vacancies that are there. There is an absolute commitment by the HSE to continue to recruit healthcare assistants in Donegal.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I will continue to monitor this closely because it is clear that in recent years there has been an agenda at senior level in the HSE for a sneaking privatisation of the service in Donegal. In a response to a parliamentary question, it was confirmed that the use of private providers increased from 13% to 19% in one year. I am clear that recruitment through the HSE for home care assistants is being held back by policies there. By its own admission, it is looking to bring in private providers to fill the gap. That is wrong. There is a culture of community focus in Donegal and trying to keep people in their homes as much as we can and not have them in institutions. That helps the hospital. I ask the Minister of State speak to the managers to get an absolute assurance to stop playing games with privatisation. Whatever about the response they have given him, it is not borne out by the facts on ground I am seeing.

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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In my role as Minister of State for older people, particularly dealing with home support services, I want to bring down the waiting lists. I want the HSE to actively recruit staff. I have met with the HSE about that on a number of occasions. For the first time, in the national service delivery plan for the HSE we are looking specifically to reduce waiting lists. As it stands, 39 additional healthcare assistants have been recruited by the HSE since September for Donegal. There are 43 candidates who have been offered roles and 17 of those have already gone through pre-employment clearance and a further 26 are undergoing it. There are also interviews taking place for 50 candidates. These are all people who will be employed by the HSE as home care assistants. The Deputy has a job to do as a representative for Donegal. I have a job to do as Minister of State. We got approval this year for an additional 250 whole-time equivalents. That is something I continue to engage with the HSE on, as well as reducing the waiting lists.