3152. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Health the policy of her Department regarding reducing reliance on private nursing homes; the measures being taken to increase the availability of community-led nursing homes and home care services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60051/26]

With a growing and ageing population, it is recognised that care provided in long-term residential care settings for older people will continue to be an important part of the continuum of care for older people into the future. Across the country, nursing homes in the public, private, and voluntary sectors play a vital role in the provision of long-term care and other services.

The Government is committed to continued investment in healthcare infrastructure which supports the highest quality care for our older population. This investment includes the ongoing Community Nursing Unit programme, a major capital infrastructure programme which was launched to ensure that up to 90 of our public Community Nursing Units and Community Hospitals would be refurbished or replaced to ensure the best quality environments for our older people, and to meet HIQA standards.

The public private partnerships (PPP) project aspect of the CNU capital programme continues to progress and will deliver 528 community beds in 2026 at seven CNU facilities across the country.

The 2025 Programme for Government commits to build more public nursing home beds and include dementia specific provision across all new Community Nursing Units. In this context, the Department of Health, alongside the HSE, is developing a new public Long-Term Residential Care Additional Capacity Plan.

In relation to home care services, the 2025 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.

The introduction of the Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Act 2026 introduces for the first time the registration and regulation by HIQA and the Chief Inspector of Social Services of all public, private and voluntary home support providers in Ireland. The Bill was signed into law on 1st July 2026.

The budget for home support for older people in 2026 is the largest ever, with investment more than doubling since 2018. Over €914 million euro has been allocated for 2026.The target for home support increased from 24 million hours in 2025 to 26.7 million hours for 2026; an 11% increase. This is more home support than has ever been delivered before and represents a 43% increase in the target since 2020.