Victor Boyhan: 5,300 Waiting for Home Care Support

First Minister, I want to thank you for coming here today. You will appreciate the constraints of time, so you had to go way over your time that was agreed under the order of business to the Minister. That's no disrespect to you. But it indicates that 75 minutes for an important piece of legislation like this isn't enough. So I make one ask of you. I ask you to go back to the leader of the Siannidh and to make a case. As Minister, you deserve to have your time and your difficulty here today, and that's no fault of your own. This is an important piece of legislation. And we've only got five minutes to engage with your Minister in relation to this important piece of legislation on the committee stage, and you have time to come back. So clearly, it is not enough time, and next week we're going to be busy and right on to the recess. So I'd ask you to talk to your government colleagues and say the Siannidh needs the respect and its members need the respect that it deserves. We are a revising chamber in this Parliament, and we need the time. But that is in no way a reflection on you, and I want to thank you as always, Minister, for coming to the house. So Minister, I've made that point, and I leave that with you. So family carers across Ireland are being pushed deeper into financial hardship, social isolation and poor health, as they shoulder ever-increasing caring responsibilities with insufficient state support, according to a new report which was forwarded to me by Councillor Ritchie Molloy from Tipperary, a strong advocate for the family carers Ireland. The report is titled The State of Care 2026, and I will circulate to all members later this afternoon. This report was published by the family carers Ireland. It paints a stark picture of the life for thousands of people providing unpaid care for loved ones with disabilities, chronic illness, complex support needs. You will be aware, Minister, that elder abuse remains widely under-recognised and under-reported, and can take many forms. Many of us will also have heard of complaints about hospitals and indeed nursing homes, but elder abuse and the abuse of those in care we know takes place in family homes too. Time begins with noticing and listening to older people and responding when something does not quite seem right. Having access to nutritious food, adequate hydration, choice and support at mealtimes is fundamental to health and to quality of life. Older adults must be supported for and cared for in a way that respects their preference, independence and dignity. I want to call on the Department of Health to act on the long-delayed Audit Safeguarding Bill. I think that needs to be done, and you might perhaps address that at some stage. Minister, as we prepare a statutory home support scheme and a new regulatory framework, we have an opportunity and an obligation indeed to create a system that prioritises dignity, flexibility and client choice. The statutory home support scheme, committed to by successive governments, should provide and protect access to care in people's homes, enabling them to stay at home for as long as possible, and you're seeking to do that here, Minister, and I want to acknowledge that. Central to this legislation must be the client choice model. Critical to the success of this legislation, of course, will be building on the client direct home support, that empowers clients to choose their provider, and indeed agrees flexible times, improving alignment between needs and skills, but also making better use of capacity. Waiting lists for home care services have surged. Data released by the HSE, which is on the Oireachta site, because I tuned into your debate in relation to this business, and the HSE shows that waiting lists for home care stood at 5,300 for the first three months of 2026. The HSE heads of service of older people access to integration said that nobody is waiting for funding to be allocated for home support, an important point, but they are, she said, waiting for carers to be assigned to them due to shortages. The shortage of carers is presenting problems for many hospital patients, being unable to be discharged from because they are waiting for a carer to be found. The shortage of home care support is particularly challenging in rural areas and is totally unacceptable for people around the country seeking support. Minister, this is an important piece of legislation. I suppose what really is critical, of course, is the real need to deliver a statutory home care scheme, and I know you're committed to that. The recruitment of staff, because that's a difficulty for many people. The remuneration is also an issue. SWAG, you'll be very familiar with SWAG and the recommendations. Some of those have been implemented, others haven't, and I think that's also a critically important piece. So I close, Minister, on time to wish you well to say this is an important piece of legislation, and it clearly will warrant some amendments, but I have to say, looking at the committee that looked into this matter, looking at how you addressed the limited amount of amendments in the Dáil, I think you're certainly in the right direction, and I really want to wish you genuinely every success with this really important legislation that I know is dear to you and your vision for care in people's homes. Thank you.