Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We wish to ensure home care is affordable for everybody. Not-for-profit organisations are not restricted, but under the current framework they must adhere to the same regulations. I understand that some of the groups might like to develop a private element of their business. They will be able to do so next year. However, based on a legal challenge that took place and a possible legal challenge in the future, we cannot have a situation where an organisation receives a block grant of funding from the State and then provides private care on that basis. What we must ensure, and we are working on this, is that we can provide a proper framework and a proper statutory home care scheme that will be affordable, accessible to everybody, sustainable for the State and that will provide choice and certainty for people into the future. Again, this is not about not wanting to provide affordable home care or about protecting private enterprise. It is the situation in which we found ourselves. I believe the only way we can rectify it is by providing a statutory framework, and we are working on that. The Health Research Board, HRB, report was published two weeks ago. We will be opening a public consultation to ensure that every group, be it statutory or non-statutory, public or private, will have its say on what that framework should be.

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