Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To go back to the point, the funding of home care is not the issue. We are all aware of the €666 million available. Delays are occurring at the moment because we have delays in providing home care workers into specific areas. As the Deputy said, weekends and rural areas, especially, can be very problematic. Notwithstanding that, the number has come down significantly over recent years. Home care in Ireland is delivered with a 50:50 split, that is, 50% public and 50% private, but it depends where someone lives. Up in County Donegal, for example, only 19% of home care is delivered on a private basis, with 81% of care provided publicly. In CHO 5, which includes Waterford, where the Acting Chairman and I come from, it is a 26:74 split, whereas in the Dublin area, for example, all home care is provided both voluntarily and privately. That has been going on for many years.

I have put in place a cross-departmental strategic workforce advisory committee. It has met informally on a couple of occasions, but the inaugural meeting will be held very soon. We want to look at the challenges of private providers.

The Deputy referred to the difference in the rates of pay. I will come back to that in a moment.

See this speech in context