Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)

The Taoiseach will recall that as Minister for Health in 2017 he committed to introduce a statutory right to home care. In 2020, he said the scheme was nearly ready and the new Government would introduce it. Here we are, four years later, and we are no nearer to having a statutory scheme for home care. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, admitted as much last week when she said the nut of funding that scheme had not been cracked. This failure to follow through on that broken promise has huge implications for the care of older people, as more older people are being forced into nursing homes because of the absence of such a scheme. Will the Taoiseach allow time this week to discuss the implications of that for a large number of older people who have been let down by this Government?

See this speech in context