Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On home help, as Deputy Michael Collins will be aware, a statutory scheme is being developed. Home help, as we acknowledge and have done so on many occasions, is ad hocand sporadic around the country. It is a demand-led scheme and €408 million is being allocated by the Government this year to meet the needs of home help. There are 50,500 people availing of home help. However, it is not enough and we accept that and we want to do more. That is why the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, and I launched a consultation to develop a statutory scheme. That consultation has now concluded. We will have a scheme underpinned by law, which will guarantee the right to home help but it will take two to three years to bring it about in full. We are moving down the road towards it. We cannot click our fingers and make it happen overnight. If the Ceann Comhairle remembers, it took up to nine years to bring about the fair deal scheme. We are trying to bring about a scheme similar to the fair deal scheme that will guarantee access to each and every person on a fair and level basis, irrespective of the geography and the other challenges involved. We do not want there to be a postal lottery involved in this.

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