Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has been doing a great deal of work in this area. Having negotiated several budgets with her, I know she has pressed the case for increased funding very hard. She was extremely successful in securing extra funding.

Since 2021, we have provided an extra €207 million in funding. That is no consolation to anybody who cannot get the home care services they need. Last year, 20.8 million hours of home support were provided across the country and a further 109,000 hours were provided as part of a pilot to test the statutory home support scheme. The budget is in place. Again, the issue is the availability of staff to provide care. We had a discussion earlier about the ageing population and demographic changes. That underlines the fact that this is an issue that will become more important. I wish to take this opportunity to correct something. I said that the number of people aged 65 years and older will double in the next decade. To be accurate, it is over the next two decades.

See this speech in context