Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As he said, the programme for Government commits the Government to introducing a statutory scheme to support people to live in their own homes that will provide equitable access to high-quality, regulated home care. It is important to note that progress has been made in this area. At the end of January 2022, 4,836 people had been assessed and were waiting for a carer to become available. This is a reduction from December 2021, when 5,322 people were waiting for a carer to become available. There are issues that need to be dealt with but the total number of people waiting for home support across both categories has reduced from more than 9,000 at the start of 2020 to approximately 5,110 by the end of January 2022. A lot of home care hours were allocated but finding staff to fulfil those allocations has been a challenge.

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