Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 32: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children the number of home care packages which will be available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8362/06]

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that an investment package of an additional €150 million has been put in place for services for older people and palliative care for 2006 and 2007, of which €55 million was allocated to home care packages. This is a full year cost, €30 million of which is for 2006, during which an additional 2,000 packages will be provided by the Health Service Executive across the country. Some 1,100 packages are provided at present. The priority will be older people living in the community or who are inpatients in an acute hospital who may otherwise require admission to residential care. The home care packages will also be available to those older people who have been admitted to long-term care and who now wish to return to the community.

It is envisaged that this focus on care in the community for older people will not be confined to 2006 and 2007 but represents a shift away from residential care, as a first option, that will continue into the future. The Deputy will be aware that the Mercer report on the Future Financing of Long-Term Care in Ireland, which was commissioned by the Department of Social and Family Affairs, examined all issues surrounding the financing of long-term care. Following on the publication of this report, a working group chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and comprising senior officials from the Departments of Finance, Health and Children and Social and Family Affairs, was established. The objective of this group was to identify the policy options for a financially sustainable system of long-term care, including improvements in community care, taking account of the Mercer report. This group presented its report to Government, where it is under consideration.