Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's response is not a reply to the question I posed. In the course of her attendance at a recent meeting of the Joint Committee on Health and Children, she stated: "The idea that a person with means would pay in the range of €250 to €290 per week for a service that is costing anything up to €1,200 to provide is unsustainable." In a subsequent interview she stated that struggling families will not face extra costs or lose supports. In the confusion around all of this and the absence of certainty - there is no detail in the Minister of State's reply today - it is understandable that people are experiencing considerable concern and some fear as to what lies ahead.

It is incumbent on the Minister of State and her colleague, the Minister, to clarify the situation for those already in long-term residential care and the many who are currently seeking to access long-term residential care because they are no longer able to provide for themselves independently and do not have the necessary familial supports in order to live independently. When will the review conclude? When will it report? When will we have the certainty? Can the Minister of State say anything to the cohort of people whom I have referred to that will allay the real fears that I have described?

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