Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I think there is some confusion here. Personalised budgets are only facilitated for people with disabilities; they are not part of the older persons' model. As we speak, 55,000 people will receive home care at a cost of €670 million annually. The tender for these services is currently up for renewal and a new call for tenders will be issued on 1 January 2023. We are considering including personalised budgets in that tender. As I speak now, however, older people receiving home care have that allocated through the public health nurse, via public, private and voluntary providers, and there is no opportunity for older people to avail of personalised budgets. There is, though, an opportunity for people with disabilities and with personal hours to avail of such personalised budgets.

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