Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is shocking there is no statutory entitlement to formal home care in Ireland or even a regulatory framework for home care services. Despite the Government committing in the 2020 programme for Government and Sláintecare to introducing a statutory home care scheme, it has yet to do so. Although this is incredibly disappointing, it is hardly surprising. Given we are coming to the end of the Government's term, it seems unlikely such a scheme will be introduced now. It is yet another promise broken by the Government and would make you wonder how serious the intentions of the three Government parties were in delivering commitments made at election time. The 2020 programme for Government is nothing but a list of undelivered promises at this stage, many of which the Government has completely ignored or actively U-turned on over the past four years. Unfortunately, statutory home care is one of the many forgotten promises and there are considerable deficiencies in home support availability, as well as a major shortage of care workers.

The majority of care provided in the home is undertaken informally by family members and others. In Donegal alone, there are almost 10,700 unpaid carers, which is 6% of the country's population, compared to 5% in 2015. Like the rest of the country, females in the county are more likely to be carers than males, with 60% of all carers female. As it stands, 8% of females in Donegal are carers and 5% of males. There are 139 carers under 15 years of age providing regular unpaid care in Donegal. The period between 2015 and 2022 saw some notable increases in the hours of unpaid care provided. The number of carers in Donegal providing 43 or more hours of care per week almost doubled from 1,688 in 2016 to 3,324 in 2022. This number has more than doubled nationally. Almost two thirds of carers were aged between 40 and 64 years and 15% were 65 years or over. It is clear there is a significant and persistent imbalance between men and women when it comes to unpaid work and caring.

Many are expected to do this without outside support and unmet demand for home support is at an all-time high. Last August, nearly 6,000 people were on HSE waiting lists for new or additional home support and a further increase is anticipated due to Ireland's ageing population. According to a report by the ESRI, the country's population will grow by between 14% and 23% between 2015 and 2030. People aged 65 years and over will increase from one eighth of the population to one sixth in that period. The number aged 85 and over will almost double. This means ageing carers as well. Our reliance on family carers is unsustainable. They require much more support and recognition than they are given.

I was encouraged to hear the Minister of State say the care offered by the HSE is free to anyone assessed as needing it and that she is yet to be convinced as to why we would want to change this. I am happy to hear this but we need to focus on the issues that persist. We should have home support services that enable older people and others to continue living in their homes and support informal carers as well. Nursing homes are full of people who would be able to live in the community with proper support, which would be much cheaper to deliver and better for them and their quality of life. Everyone deserves to live a life of dignity. We should support people to live at home in the communities by providing proper home care free at the point of delivery so everyone can avail of a proper and better home service.

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