Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025: Second Stage Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-16 ============================================================ Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel I thank the Minister of State for coming here today. He will appreciate the constraints of time. He had to go way over the time that was agreed for the Minister of State under the Order of Business. That is no disrespect to him, but it indicates that 75 minutes for important legislation like this is not enough. I make one ask of him. I ask him to go back to the Leader of the Seanad and make a case, as Minister of State, that he deserves to have his time. He has difficulty here today and that is no fault of his own. This is an important piece of legislation. We have only got five minutes to engage with the Minister of State on this important legislation before Committee Stage and he has time to come back. Clearly, it is not enough time. Next week, we are going to be busy and right up to the recess. I ask him to talk to his Government colleagues and say that the Seanad and its Members need the respect they deserve. We are a revising Chamber of this Parliament and we need the time. That is in no way a reflection on the Minister of State. I thank him, as always, for coming to the House. I have made that point and I will leave it with him. 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 forwarded to me by Councillor Richie Molloy from Tipperary, who is a strong advocate for Family Carers Ireland. The report is titled, The State of Caring 2026, and I will circulate it to all Members later this afternoon. This report, published by Family Carers Ireland, paints a stark picture of life for thousands of people providing unpaid care for loved ones with disabilities, chronic illness and complex support needs. The Minister of State will be aware 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 nursing homes, but we know elder abuse and the abuse of those in care takes place in family homes too. Safeguarding begins with noticing and listening to older people and responding when something does not seem quite right. Having access to nutritious food, adequate hydration and choice and support at mealtimes are fundamental to health and quality of life. Older adults must be supported for and cared for in a way that respects their preference, independence and dignity. I call on the Department of Health to work on the long-delayed adult safeguarding Bill. That needs to be done and the Minister of State might perhaps address that at some stage. As we prepare a statutory home support scheme and a new regulatory framework, we have an opportunity and an obligation 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. The Minister of State is seeking to do that here and I acknowledge that. Central to this legislation must be the client choice model. Critical to the success of this legislation will be building on the client direct home support that empowers clients to choose their provider and 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 Oireachtas site because I tuned into the Minister of State's debate in relation to this business, show that waiting lists for home care stood at 5,300 for the first three months of 2026. The HSE heads of service for older people, and for accessibility and integration, said that nobody is waiting for funding to be allocated for home support, which is an important point, but they are waiting for carers to be assigned to them, due to shortages The shortage of carers is presenting problems for many hospital patients who are unable to be discharged 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. This is important legislation but what is critical is the need to deliver a statutory home care scheme. I know the Minister of State is committed to that. The recruitment of staff is an issue that is causing difficulties for many people. Remuneration is also an issue. The Minister of State will be familiar with the strategic workforce advisory group, SWAG, and its recommendations. Some of those have been implemented but others have not. That is also a critically important piece. I wish the Minister of State well with this important legislation. Clearly, it will warrant some amendments but given the committee that looked into this matter and the way it addressed the limited number of amendments in the Dáil, the Minister of State is certainly moving in the right direction. I genuinely wish him every success with this really important legislation that I know is dear to him and his vision for care in people's homes. --- 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/seanad/2026-06-16/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:03+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-06-16