There is a commitment in the programme for Government to increase home care packages and home help hours but we see the reality that nationally more than 6,200 people have been approved for home care hours but have not been able to receive them since last July. In the Irish Independent this morning we read about the rise in delayed discharges because of the lack of home supports. In January, 481 delayed discharges took place. In September, before the impact of winter was felt, there were 613 delayed discharges, which equates to 130,000 bed days lost as a direct consequence. Last week, the Taoiseach said he believed the winter plan does not work. Will he confirm that €10 million was allocated to address this backlog in home help and home care packages? Will it take effect immediately, that is between now and the end of the year, and will he give an assurance to those people and their families that the commitments given to them by the HSE to home support will be met?

The budget for home support, home help and home care has increased to €420 million this year. That is up from €306 million in 2015, which is an increase of more than €100 million year in the past three years. That is a considerable increase. It provides 17 million home help hours to 50,000 people. The allocation has not yet been made for 2019. It will be part of the service plan. In the medium term, we need to not just continue to add more money and resources to a system that is not delivering adequately; we need reform. What we propose to do, in line with the Sláintecare plan, is to have a statutory scheme for home help, something similar but not the same as the fair deal scheme. The Deputy will know from the fair deal scheme that people get an assessment and a decision within weeks. This is not happening for home help. We believe it is the model to follow. If we keep doing what we have done in the past, which is to keep adding more resources, staff and money to the system as it is currently structured, we will not get the results we need.