Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In the context of age-friendly homes, I was asked to provide further funding next year. As a result, €5.2 million was provided in the budget in order to roll this out across the 31 local authorities.

If you are an older person living at home without family support or an immediate next of kin, there is a dedicated person within the local authority. If you want to rightsize, because you have decided your home is too big for you or you cannot heat it any more - apparently "downsize" is no longer the right word, it does not have to be a local authority house and can be a private house, but this dedicated person is there to give you support, for example, in relation to hiring an auctioneer, an estate agent or something like that. As this has worked really well in the nine pilots, we are now extending it to support older people with that. We will get the exact details regarding the question asked because it is a very valid point. There are a lot of people, who are renters and who may be in hospital and they might not have that home to go into. It is the HSE's responsibility for anyone with complex care needs, that a place might be found for them. That could be in a nursing home and it might not be the person's express wishes. There definitely always has to be communication and it is very helpful when there is family involved too.