Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have community care homes in the south east in counties Waterford, Wexford and Carlow. I visited a couple of them in Carlow with Deputy Murnane O'Connor. They are community care homes that provide low level supports for people. It is a step between a nursing home and leaving one's own home but a nurse is always on duty. It is a fantastic model because it is a home from home. The person is living in his or her own community and is not on fair deal but pays a percentage of his or her pension. It also means local people are working there whom the person may have known all his or her life in the community. We have ten of these homes in the south east. The model is fantastic. It is like the boarding-out model but we will certainly take a look at it to see whether there is anything we can do with regard to the costs. I am not sure how many people take part in boarding out. It is unique to specific areas in the country but it works very well for some people.