David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

If it is a staged process, it is painfully slow. That is not what was envisaged as the first step. We were promised that the regulations would be developed in tandem with the other elements. A number of modules were promised that relate to the delivery of the statutory home care scheme. They are a statutory entitlement and there does not seem to be any development of that, apart from vague references to preparatory work, regulation, which we are dealing with, funding, which the Minister said last week had not been agreed and we are a long way away from it, and a reformed model of service delivery. It is a safe bet at this point that before the end of the Government's term, we will not have a statutory home care scheme in place. The best we will have is licensing and regulations, if this Bill even gets passed. That is the best we will get. Is that a fair assessment?