Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael)

None of my questions was answered. Put simply, who is entitled to this care, when will the scheme commence, how many people will be able to avail of it and in what areas will it operate? I was told I was wrong when I accused the Tánaiste six months ago of cutting 2 million home help hours from the home care budget. I have still not got a clear answer to how what I said was wrong. It appears that we are robbing Peter to pay Paul in regard to home care plans. It is simply a case of taking home help hours from one group of patients, dressing them up as home care packages and giving them to a new group of patients.

Are patients to be responsible for the home care packages or will they be given to a private service provider who will then be in charge of the provision of home care services for patients? I would be delighted if the Minister of State could tell me where the 2 million home help hours went.

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