849. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Health the reason persons assessed as requiring home support are being refused or delayed due to funding being exhausted; the steps she will take to ensure that no person living with dementia is left without the care they have been assessed as needing (details supplied); if she will confirm the commencement date for the legislation and detail the barriers that remain to implementing this long-promised statutory entitlement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53262/26]

The questions the Deputy has raised in relation to service provision for dementia patients would be operational matters for the Health Service Executive to respond to. I have forwarded your correspondence to the Health Service Executive and asked that they respond to you directly on this matter as soon as possible.

With regard to your questions raised concerning the Statutory Home Support Scheme, the Programme for Government commits to "Design a Statutory Homecare Scheme to allow people to stay in their own home for as long as possible." Enabling older people with care needs to continue to live independently at home for as long as possible, is a priority for the Government and as such it has committed to establishing a new Statutory Scheme for regulation of home support services, which the Department of Health is currently developing.

A critical first step has been ensuring that the home support providers are regulated. An important development in the home care sector has been the introduction of the Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Act 2026 which introduces for the first time, the registration and regulation by HIQA and the Chief Inspector of Social Services of all of public, private and voluntary home support providers in Ireland. The Bill has been approved by Cabinet and was published on 22nd December 2025. It was signed into law by the President on 1st July 2026. Now that the Bill has been enacted, the Department will continue to work with HIQA and in consultation with the sector, on the legal drafting of the secondary legislation (the regulations).

The objective of the proposed registration system is to improve the safety and quality of home support services. It will ensure that registered home support providers do not operate below the standard set by Ministerial regulations. The new system of regulation for home support providers will ensure that the public can be confident that the services provided are of a high standard and will bring Ireland in line with best international practice.

This Act provides for the regulation of the sector by HIQA. Final amendments have been made to draft regulations for home support providers following public consultation and engagements with stakeholder groups.

Alongside this legislation, the Department is working to address the future financing of homecare, the reform of the model of service delivery and the breadth of issues relating to recruitment and retention in this sector; all in the context of a substantial expansion of the State-funded home support service.

How home support will be funded in the future will be an essential factor of the new Statutory Scheme. Currently, home support services are fully exchequer funded for those who have been assessed by the HSE as requiring the service. The Department is researching different funding models which will form an important part of the evidence base for the development of a sustainable funding model for home care services and has commissioned several reports from the ESRI and the European Observatory on Health Systems.

This research is being examined, as it forms an important part of the evidence base for the development of a sustainable funding model for home support services in the context of our ageing population. The Capacity Review was undertaken by the ESRI and published in June 2025. Regional projections were published in November 2025. This will help to inform the levels of service provision required into the future (out to 2040) and will be a key piece of research for this workstream.

It is important to note that no decision on future funding options has been made, and further research is underway.