Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)

I wish Deputy Rice well in his new role as Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Health. No doubt, we will be working with him. The programme for Government commits to designing a statutory home care scheme to allow people to stay in their own home for as long as possible. As Minister of State with responsibility for older people and housing, I am fully committed to delivering the design of the scheme and the operational and legislative reform that will be necessary to underpin it. Achieving this commitment requires a focused effort across several work streams, all contributing towards developing the statutory framework and improving experiences of those receiving home support.

The first legislative element is the health (amendment) (licensing of professional home support providers) Bill 2024, which will establish a licensing framework for professional home support services. The general scheme was approved by Government on 14 May 2024 and has been referred to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for final drafting with a view to presenting the Bill to Cabinet in quarter 2 of 2025. This Bill will provide for the regulation of the sector by HIQA. Final amendments have been made to draft regulations for home support providers following public consultation. Alongside this legislation, the Department is working to address the future financing of home care, the reform of the model of service delivery and the breadth of issues relating to recruitment and retention in this sector, all in the context of a substantial expansion of the State-funded home support service.

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