Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I understand the stress. I deal on a daily basis with many people who need to be taken out of hospital and put into care. They need services in their homes or in facilities. It is becoming challenging because people are getting older. I spent two days in an emergency department over the past couple of weeks. I was conscious that many of those there were older people with respiratory illnesses. As we get older, such illnesses become more prevalent. My daughter, who works in this area, told me that it is very hard to get staff to work in home care packages and home care services. She has said that difficulties arise when these services are loaded with more work and not enough staff are available to do it. It is a very dedicated service. I acknowledge that supports are needed for people. I attended a meeting in St. James's Hospital last week with the CEO. We spoke about people who are in addiction, homeless people and people who are in hospital. We discussed how we need to use the Housing First approach to get them to vacate the beds. It is an issue across the country.