Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Home support is an essential service for thousands of people each day across the country. It is highly valued by service users and their families because it enables older people to live independently and with dignity in their own homes for longer. It also enables many older people to return home following acute hospital admission. Otherwise, they may remain there or would be admitted to long-term residential care.

For these reasons, improving access to this service is a Government priority.

Home support hours in communities are increasing, in line with enhanced investment. We currently provide more hours of home support to more people than ever before. There are over 54,000 people receiving home support services, with almost 75,000 benefitting from the service last year.

Since Budget 2021 we have provided an additional €228 million in funding. In 2023 the overall home care budget is €723 million. Budget 2024 provides an additional €2.8 million to meet inflationary pressures. 

In 2023 we expect to deliver 21.5 million home support hours. As of August 2023, preliminary data shows that over 14 million hours of home support have been provided this year to date. This represents an increase of approximately 600,000 hours compared to the same period in 2022.

The delivery of home support hours is increasing year on year. In 2024 we expect to deliver 22 million hours of home support. This is more than has ever been delivered before.