Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)

It has been a year since the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, told the Oireachtas Committee on Health that the delay was due to the funding model. At the time, the Minister of State said the nut had not been cracked on financing the scheme. In February 2025, the Minister for Health told me no final decision on future funding had been made and that further research was under way to enhance the evidence base. Is this still the case? It has been eight years and the Department should have figured it out by now. Political will is needed to get this over the line. What happened to the promise in the wake of the pandemic that an entirely different model of elder care would be provided? The regulations are important but only a statutory right to home care has the potential to deliver a radically different model. It is the most crucial part of the broader reform programme.

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