Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Improving access to home support is a priority for the Government. Since Budget 2021 I have secured an additional €228 million in funding. In 2023 the overall home care budget is €723 million.

Across Cork and Kerry there are almost 7,500 people in receipt of a Home Support Service and at the end of August over 1.8 million home support hours had been provided year to date. At the end of October 2023, there were 1,648 clients assessed and awaiting a new or additional Home Support Service.

The current recruitment pause in place at the HSE was extended beyond clerical, administrative and management grades from 13 October and is expected to continue until the end of 2023. However, the HSE is still processing applications for a limited number of additional direct home support employments where the employment and deployment of the worker is directly connected to delayed transfers of care of clients from an acute setting.

Work continues to deliver on the recommendations of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group which I established last year. A new and improved HSE Home Support Tender delivers on commitments for sectoral reform such as payment for travel time, paying carers the National Living Wage at a minimum, and bringing legacy rates in line with the new revised rates of funding.