Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-25
============================================================

Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I fully appreciate the Deputy's advocacy for his home county. In terms of home care, day care and meals on wheels, there are very significant extended resources all working together and they are particularly effective in rural areas. I am sure the Deputy will agree what is needed is additional resources, particularly in County Clare. That is what he is advocating for.
The fair deal scheme supports people to access nursing home care. The more people have, the more they pay in terms of income levels. It is structured that way. The less they have, the less they pay. Again, there are huge costs involved here. There are about 24,000 people on that scheme, with 80% supported in private nursing homes and the remainder in HSE-run facilities. The cost has gone from €968 million to €1.2 billion in 2025. That will continue to rise. I take the Deputy's point about the need to try to improve that to give people access closer to home. That is accepted. People generally want to stay at home for as long as they possibly can. There comes a stage, I accept, when a nursing home is required. Obviously, the closer to the family home for the family the better in those situations.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-25/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-25