Home care legislation
Deputy Shortall pressed for the long-promised statutory right to home care and accused the Government of cutting hours. The Tánaiste said he would check the legislation’s progress, defended increased home care hours overall, and said recruitment rather than funding was the main constraint.
I want to ask the Tánaiste about the long-promised statutory right to home care. This was promised in 2018. It was supposed to be in place by 2021. Two years later, there is no sign of the legislation. The advisory group recommended improved pay and conditions for the staff, who are very badly paid. Over the summer, the Government cynically agreed to pay those new rates and improve the conditions but at the cost of older people who depend on these services. Very cynically, the Government took almost 2 million hours out of the allocation for this year meaning that older people are paying the price for this and the Government is doing nothing at all for the over 6,000 people who are on waiting lists. The Government has disimproved the situation from the point of view of older people who are dependent on this and it is incentivising people to go into nursing homes rather than stay at home. When will we see that legislation and why has it been so delayed?
Comment on this
I will check for the Deputy in terms of where the legislation is, but this Government has dramatically increased home care hours for people.
Comment on this
It has cut them this year.
Comment on this
Sorry, the Deputy needs to be honest about it too. There has been a dramatic improvement and increase. The only thing holding back home care has been the recruitment of people, not resources or funding.
Comment on this
The Government has cut the hours this year.
Comment on this
There are 2 million hours cut this year.