Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I appreciate the Minister of State saying the motion is not being opposed, but is the Government going to deliver? That is the question here, and it is a huge question. Since I came here in 2016, that has been the case - non-delivery for home care services. I thank John Campbell and Mark Nolan for helping us put this motion together. This motion is about people. It is about the backbone of carers. They are forgotten families. There are rural communities being left behind. It is about fairness, and right now what is happening in home care and the fair deal is not fair.

Almost 100,000 people are on the carer's allowance. These are our mothers, fathers and neighbours keeping loved ones out of hospital beds with their own two hands, but we punish them with a cruel, bureaucratic means test. A threshold of €450 for a single person is insulting. We need to abolish the means test altogether because care is not a luxury. It is work. It is a sacrifice. It is worth more than figures on a page.

In 2024, more than 5,000 people were waiting for home support. That is not a list; it is a line of hardship. The Government has been rolling out this statutory home care scheme since 2016, and in 2025 there is still no deadline and no legal right to home care. This is not reform; it is a farce. We want a timeline. We want rights-based care in law, and not regional roulette. If you are in Dublin, maybe your mom gets a carer next week. If you are in Connemara or west Cork it could be months. Rural areas are short-staffed, underfunded and flat-out ignored. Let us be clear. No postcode should decide whether your parents get to stay in their home. I have seen families forced to sell off land that has been in the family for generations just to pay nursing home bills. If you work the land, the three-year cap applies, but if you lease it to keep it productive, suddenly it does not. That is nonsense. We want leased farmland recognised as actively operated.

We want fairness for every farm family. The Home Care Coalition says we need €327 million more in 2025. That is not overspending, that is catching up on years of neglect, inflation, regulation and staff shortages. None of it gets fixed by half measures. We are calling for capital grants, an ICT system and full staffing support. The Minister cannot run a health service on good intentions.

Nursing Homes Ireland says Ireland's ageing population is a success story that requires strategic investment in long-term care services. Care should be viewed as an investment in social infrastructure essential for the dignity and independence of citizens. The Government most urgently publish the fair deal pricing review to ensure rates reflect the true cost of care. Additionally, a cohesive policy framework for nursing home care is needed, as current plans overlook this vital sector. The promised policy paper on nursing home sustainability must be delivered without further delay. The nursing home sector faces significant challenges, including underfunding, workforce shortages and rising operational costs. Immediate engagement with representatives of the sector is necessary to stabilise the system and prevent further closures. Private and voluntary nursing homes play a crucial role in providing quality care and must be recognised as an essential part of Ireland's mixed-model health and social care systems. Funding disparities between public and private providers are unsustainable and require immediate reform to ensure equitable funding and to safeguard access to care. This is about doing what is right, not what is politically safe. Dáil Éireann must support this motion, not for show but to ensure action is taken because when we back carers, fund home care, and protect farmers, we do not just save money, we save people.

I accept that the Minister is supporting the motion, but that must be backed up with immediate action. We cannot have the same situation happening again in four to five years' time.

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