Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath says many elderly people are being “left to fend for themselves” this Christmas.
Speaking in the Dáil, the independent deputy raised the staffing problems affecting home help which could leave some people without assistance on Christmas Day or St Stephen’s Day.
The Taoiseach says an advisory group has been set up to examine the recruitment problem, but deputy McGrath believes the HSE should have seen this issue coming.
“We’ve been banging on about it here for years and now you’re throwing money at it through the pandemic but you can’t get the operators.
“The bottom line is people are suffering and people are getting more sick and families are struggling.”
In reply Taoiseach Micheál Martin said “the issue is recruitment of additional home support workers.
“That is because the demand has increased but also the resourcing has increased and significant additional people have come into the service to work but what we need to do now is to obviously do everything we possibly can to recruit more people.”