Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I can appreciate the Senator's concerns because the demographic trends are frightening to say the least. It is staggering to think we will have 1.2 million people over the age of 65 years living in this country in the next 20 years or so. There is a huge challenge and that is why, early in my tenure in this role, the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and I launched a consultation on a new statutory home care scheme that would mirror the fair deal scheme. It would be underpinned by statute, would be guaranteed funding and would be a demand-led scheme. Part of that is looking at our workforce planning and the issues surrounding ensuring that we have availability. It is a challenge in many different regions and it contributes to the ad hocnature of delivery today. The upskilling and recruitment, as well as the maintaining and keeping in the system of home care workers, is part of that statutory scheme and is part of the planning process that is being undertaken at the moment. I assure the Senator that we are aware of that challenge and that is to the fore in our development of the new statutory scheme, which we hope to have up and running within the next two to three years.