The programme for Government states that a statutory home care scheme will be designed to allow people to stay in their homes for as long as possible. In my home county of Longford, numerous families are struggling to look after family members. Based on medical need, they are being allocated hours but the reality is that there are no staff employed by the HSE to provide the hours. Families are now considering applying for the fair deal scheme to allow for nursing home care for their relatives. That will ultimately cost the State more money. When will see a home care scheme in place to look after those elderly people in Longford and in communities throughout the country?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and for his persistent work on the matter on behalf of the people of counties Longford and Westmeath. Last year in Longford and Westmeath, more than 660,000 hours of home help were delivered. That was more than 51,000 hours ahead of target. Funding has been provided for this year to at least maintain that level of service. I am pleased to tell the Deputy that a recruitment campaign is under way in Longford and Westmeath for healthcare support assistants. So often, as the Deputy knows, this is not just a funding issue but a staffing issue.

The Deputy is right. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who has responsibility for older people, is present. We want to introduce a statutory home care scheme. It is not right that the only statutory scheme in respect of how we care for older people is the nursing home scheme. We need to provide a statutory scheme for people to get care in their homes. That is in the programme for Government and will be progressed by the Minister of State.