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

I thank Deputy Butler for her continued interest in and support for this matter. I can confirm that the 1 million additional home help hours, which will bring next year's allocation to 19.2 million, will be available from 1 January. These home help hours will support people to continue living in their own homes. I have already indicated that some of these hours will be used to test the statutory home care scheme, which I have mentioned previously. We intend to run a pilot of that scheme next year, starting in January 2020. I will give the Deputy further details on that as they come to hand. They will be available from 1 January.

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