Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, I can, and my new departmental colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Daly, will have responsibility for the area of home care in so far as it relates to older people. As Deputy Moynihan will remember, we had a debate in this House recently during which his colleague, Deputy O'Dea, raised this very issue by way of a Bill. We agreed at that stage that we would go forward with trying to develop a statutory home care scheme. We all say we would like people to be able to grow old at home but the only statutory scheme available for someone who grows old and needs more support is the fair deal scheme, that is, the nursing home support scheme.

We intend to launch a public consultation process shortly to hear the views of older people on how that statutory home care scheme, an alternative to the fair deal scheme, for people in need of home help could work.

While there are many elements of the report on which we will all agree, we may not all agree on how to fund its implementation. For example, it proposes the removal of private work from public hospitals. I believe in that proposal instinctively, but it would create a €650 million hole in the health budget. Reference is made to the cost of implementing the report, but it does not outline how we would fund its implementation. The Deputy's party and mine might have a view, but the parties and groupings on the left might have a different one. We will need to tease out these issues in the coming weeks and months.

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