Mr. Robert Deegan:

I will answer Deputy Durkan's questions. In terms of private providers, under a longstanding arrangement, there has been a mix between services provided by the HSE voluntary organisations and private companies. The issue is one of ensuring these three strands mesh well and we will emphasise this in the development of the new scheme. We cannot have different providers working in isolation. We need them to work together to improve outcomes for service users and build services around the user, as opposed to the provider of the service.

The issue of informal care was raised a number of times. We fully recognise that informal carers are the backbone of home care provision. What we need to do is ensure informal carers are appropriately supported to deliver care, which is the reason the issue also arose in the consultation process. We need to ensure that we get the balance right between family carers and formal carers and that they work effectively together. This is a complicating factor because we have providers who view the matter from a formal provider perspective. We need to ensure they also see the perspective of family carers and that we design the system in a way that supports family carers to do what they want to do. It is clear that people want to support their family members by helping them to stay at home. However, they need the support and help from services and service providers to do this.

Deputy Durkan also referred to regulation and asked how we would meet demand. Demand is increasing and there are demographic challenges facing the country. It is a great success on the part of the health service and the country in general that people are getting older and the number of people in the older age bracket is increasing. We need to ensure the system is appropriately supported to supply the services people need on the ground.