Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I think we all acknowledge the enormous value of home care in terms of helping people who are sick, elderly or disabled to remain in their homes for longer, thus not having to go into a nursing home. Home care helps patients to get out of hospital quicker, thus freeing up hospital beds for others who need them. There is no disagreement in the House about that.

I spoke to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Daly, about this matter yesterday. I understand there will be a debate on it in the House tonight. We are trying to get all the information about this. There seems to be quite a lot of variation from one community healthcare area to another. It may not be the case, as has been reported, that there will be no new hours until November, at least not in all parts of the country. We are trying to get a fix on that in advance of the debate tonight.

Resources are being increased for home help and home care. The budget for home help and home care in 2015 was a little over €300 million. This year, it is €446 million, which is a 50% increase in four years. While there has been an increase in population in the past four years, the population has aged slightly in the past four years and the cost of home care has increased in the past four years, they have not increased by 50%. It is reasonable for us, as citizens and taxpayers, to expect a much better service for a 50% increase in funding. It is the responsibility of the HSE and Government to ensure that happens.

An extra €30 million is provided for this year. This will provide 18.3 million hours in home support. That is an increase of 800,000 on last year. That is 800,000 more hours this year than last year, which is a significant increase. I am informed, on the basis of a note I was provided with earlier today, that this takes account of the Tyco decision and the fact that home help staff are paid for travelling time. We are trying to get to the bottom of this ourselves.

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