The publication of the Family Carers Ireland Scorecard on the National Carers Strategy this week reinforces the need for a serious expansion of home care and home help.

It is evident that the deficiencies in home care provision are having a negative impact on many people and whilst we are making improvements in some areas, the number of home help hours currently funded is still one million behind 2010 provisions!

How many of you have seen neighbours or family members discharged from hospital  without a documented care plan or the required supports in place to help families perform their caring role in ‘a safe and dignified manner’.

We must see a sustained increase in home care support. Despite putting an extra billion into the Budget for 2016, there was no increase in home care packages and home help hours.

This must be addressed in the next Budget. While the Programme for Government does pledge an increase in home care, there are no specific details outlined as yet. In 2015, the HSE estimated that some 2.2 million extra hours of home help and a further 3,500 home care packages for older people were required.

These additional resources must be provided over the next three budgets. I fully agree with Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Older People, Mary Butler who paid tribute to Family Carers Ireland for their work and advocacy.

“Supporting carers in our society is a key priority for Fianna Fáil. Our policy is strongly in favour of supporting care in the community and enabling people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible.”