Health (Amendment) (Home Support Providers) Bill 2025: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-06-23
============================================================

Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I move amendment No. 1:
In page 5, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following:
“Report to Houses of Oireachtas
3. The Minister shall, within 12 months of the commencement of this Act, report to the Houses of the Oireachtas on creating a framework for child and adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector in the context of this Act, to expand and strengthen safeguards for children and adults to prevent the risk of abuse and harm.”.
I thank the Minister of State and his officials for coming to the House.
It was proposed on the Order of Business that we would conclude the debate on this legislation today. That is the political reality we live in. There is an urgency on the part of the Government to get through its programme and it commitments in legislation. There were no objections to the Order of Business, and, therefore, we have to work on the basis that we will conclude the debate on the legislation this evening.
The amendment states:
The Minister shall, within 12 months of the commencement of this Act, report to the Houses of the Oireachtas on creating a framework for child and adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector in the context of this Act, to expand and strengthen safeguards for children and adults to prevent the risk of abuse and harm.
We do not need to look back at history to know about the abuse of children or adults. We know that it went on in institutions, in State care, in private care and in private homes. There is not a day when we do not pick up a newspaper and read about the tragedy of the violation of people, be they children or adults, in placed in which they expected to feel safe. People expect to feel safe in their home. They have a legitimate expectation of trust and care that they will be safe from harm and abuse, but, sadly, that is not the case. I always bring that thought to legislation. It is something I am hugely committed to. I have personal experience of this matter. One thing about this Parliament is that we see things from where we stand and from the experiences we have had, and we bring that to the table. We all have different experiences. We are exposed to different sets of circumstances. Fr most of us, our experience of life prompts us to move on in politics.
I am conscious that this will be my only opportunity to speak on the amendment. As a result, I will outline some of the reasons for tabling it. Elder abuse remains widely under-recognised and under-reported. It takes place in many homes and in many forms. Many of us will have heard complaints about hospitals and nursing homes, but, as I said, abuse can take place in private homes. There are many forms of abuse, be it physical, emotional or sexual abuse or coercive control. Safeguarding begins by noticing and listening, particularly to older people, and responding when something does not seem quite right. We are familiar with a certain feeling we get about things. Sometimes we might not be able to put it into words, but people get feelings about things. When that happens, they need to be checked out. Older adults in particular must be supported and cared for in a way that respects their preferences, independence and dignity. It is essential that the new regulatory framework be put in place - I will talk about that in a moment - in order to protect both home care providers and service users. Everyone involved when it comes to a care package needs to be protected. That is really important. We have an opportunity and an obligation to create a system that prioritises dignity, flexibility, service user and client choice and personal safety.
The statutory home support scheme committed to by successive Governments is clearly still an objective in respect of which we will all try to work collectively. I know it is not possible at this juncture to roll out the complete suite of what the Government anticipated, but I am glad to see that this is still an ambition of the Government. I acknowledge that. We know that most people want to stay in their homes. Where they do, we need to support them. Central to the legislation must be the service user. I looked at the Minister of State’s significant contribution on Committee Stage in the Dáil. One of the key things he kept emphasising is that, at the end of the day, it is about the service users and their priorities. I acknowledge the significant contribution the Minister of State made in the Lower House.
Critical to the success of the legislation will be building on home support packages. That is critically important. However, they must be packages that empower clients to choose their providers, agree flexible visiting times, improve alignment between needs and skills and make for better use of capacity. Maintaining personal autonomy is really important as one advances in years. Waiting lists for home care services have surged. I do not need to lecture the Minister of State about that. We are all aware of it. Data released by the HSE shows that the number of people on waiting lists for home care for the first three months of 2026 stood at over 5,300. The HSE’s head of service for older people, access and integration said that nobody is waiting for funding to be allocated for home support, but the problem is that they are waiting for carers to be assigned due to shortages. That is the key point. It is not the money – that is in place, according to the HSE – it is the staff shortages. There are a number of reasons for this, including costs, training and the fact that it can be more expensive for people who are carers to live in cities. There are a range of complexities involved. The Minister of State has been looking at the recommendations of the strategic workforce advisory group, SWAG. That work is progressing, so I will not go into any more detail on it. The shortage of carers is presenting problems for many hospital patients who are unable to be discharged because they are waiting for carers to be found for them. That is not satisfactory when people are looking for acute beds. There are people in acute beds who want home care support but cannot get it. That is a challenge. The shortage of home care support is particularly challenging in rural areas. The Minister of State will know this as someone who represents an area that is split between urban and rural. It is totally unacceptable that people around the country who have been approved for home care packages are left languishing on waiting lists for months. Time, sadly, is not always on their side.
I cannot stress enough the importance of day care services. Senators on all sides have spoken about the importance of such services for the elderly. They allow many to live independently in their homes while receiving interventions, health monitoring, social engagement and interaction and nutritious meals. These are all very important for elderly people, particularly those who may live in isolated areas. The benefits are enormous, even if it is only two or three days a week.
Day centres are particularly important in rural areas. They provide crucial respite for families and care givers, preventing other issues and challenges. Day care services and home help can work hand in hand to allow one to age with dignity and respect, but, more importantly, on the basis of choice.
I acknowledge the significant work of the family carers across Ireland. When I reached out to them the week before last, I contacted Richie Molloy, a former independent councillor who is a strong advocate and who works for Family Carers Ireland. He told me about the number of carers who are in financial hardship, social isolation and poor health and who are having to shoulder the ever-increasing responsibilities with insufficient State support. That is according to the Family Carers Ireland report, The State of Caring 2026, which was published recently. That report paints a stark picture of life for thousands of people who are providing unpaid care for loved ones with disabilities, chronic illnesses and complex needs.
Why am I asking for the Oireachtas to create a framework for child and adult safeguarding? I am aware that progress has been made around children, but we need to make progress in respect of adults. There was something I picked up from the Minister of State’s previous engagement. He rightly pointed out there is an overlap between the Department with responsibility for children, youth and disabilities, under the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Department of Health. What is appropriate for one must be appropriate for the other. When all that will happen and will be knitted together is another day’s work.
It is important that I make that point.
There is a lack of appropriate action. We need to develop this. Elder abuse overlaps other abuses, particularly with societal groups such as people with disabilities or people who do not have full decision-making capacity. "Capacity" is another very important word in this space. Do people have the capacity to advocate for themselves? Who is advocating for them? Do those advocates have a conflict of interest in their advocacy roles? Are there conflicts within families in respect of what the priorities are? Where does this leave the client? The service users are central to all of this and they need to be protected.
Abuse can be perpetrated by family members or strangers or in relationships where there may be a high expectation of trust. I spoke about that last point as I opened my contribution today. We are all entitled to an expectation of trust and we must be kept safe from harm. When I talk about harm, I am talking about an assault, ill treatment or neglect in the case of an adult or, indeed, a child. Harm to anybody is unacceptable and we must protect them.
We talk about issues like sexual abuse, financial abuse, conduct that causes physical or psychological harm, unlawful conduct that appropriates adversely or that may affect people’s property rights or personal rights, theft, fraud, embezzlement, extortion and conduct that causes people to self-harm. That last one is alarming and occurs when people feel that they have nowhere to turn and then inflict self-harm on themselves. Harm arises from any action, whether by a deliberate act or an act of omission, that may cause impairment that is physical, intellectual or emotional or impacts mental health and well-being.
What does all of that mean? In this amendment, I have asked and simply sought:
The Minister shall, within 12 months of the commencement of this Act, report to the Houses of the Oireachtas [only to report to the Houses of the Oireachtas, and not today, but in 12 months] on creating a framework for child and adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector in the context of this [Bill], to expand and strengthen safeguards for children and adults to prevent the risk of abuse and harm.
This Bill is one of many that present us with an opportunity to be proactive, to advocate and to be vigilant. We have the opportunity. So often, there is a situation where, after the event, we say we got it wrong and then ask what went wrong. We are the Legislature. We are Seanad Éireann, the revising Chamber for legislation. We are not here just to talk for the sake of talking. We are here because we believe in things. Things need to happen and things need to change.
I am not looking for a magic wand. I know the arithmetic of this House. It is all very well to stand up and say that this is the way we should be doing things, but the Minister of State will then read from a script or whatever and say he cannot do it for various reasons. I know the Minister of State has a bank of experts, advisers, policy people, the Attorney General, the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, policy development officials and all of that. I will tell the Minister of State what I am really asking for. I will first thank him and the House for allowing me the opportunity to focus on these key issues. This amendment has given me that chance. It has put this scenario, which is one of many, on the record of the House.
I simply do not know what the Minister of State's final position will be on this proposal, having listened to the contributions and engagement by me and maybe others. I ask that we be proactive and alert and commit to some form of legislation. I say this because a framework is merely a framework. It is a very loose term, and I chose it because I thought it might be less adversarial and easier to get over the line. I do not think that is going to be the case, however. What I am really suggesting, and I hope the Minister of State will be in a position to say this will be the case, is that we can have a roadmap to strong, robust legislation that protects people in care, be that in their homes or in State or private institutions. We have an obligation to do this, and it is a must.
I thank the Minister of State.

---

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/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23