Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, told me that he was unable to be here because of questions to the Minister for rural affairs in the Dáil. What he is saying is really reassuring, but I have been hearing that for a number of years and nothing has been done. When I first raised this issue in 2021, 51 providers were involved. Now there are only eight. That tells you that people are leaving. It is not because they do not want to continue. It is because they cannot continue because of the cost pressures of inflation, with food, fuel and electricity having all gone up. The money to provide the service has not gone up in tandem with that. The provider I was talking to the other day said it was difficult for her to afford to pay staff. She is working round the clock and she is not even getting the minimum wage with the amount of money she is getting per hour. I hope something can be done on time before she exits this service, but I am not sure about that at this stage. If it can be looked at, updated and encouraged, more people might get involved if the scheme was more attractive.