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

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of home care. It is so important, as we all know. It keeps people out of hospital, gets people out of hospital more quickly, keeps people out of nursing homes and makes sure they are safe. We have dramatically increased the budget for home care in recent years. The problem is no longer a matter of money but of finding staff who are available to be home carers. To help deal with that, we have relaxed the work permit rules so that up to 1,000 people can come in from outside the European Union and outside the EEA to work here as home carers. We are examining the possibility of an employment regulation order to put in place better pay, terms and conditions to make it more attractive, as we have done in childcare. We are also making progress on the statutory home care scheme so that there is a statutory right to home care in the way there is for nursing home care at the moment but that is not currently in place for home care.

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