Paul Lawless
Question:675. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Health the number of home help agencies registered in Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35218/25]
View answerTuesday, 1 July 2025
Questions (675)
Written answers
There is currently no requirement to be registered as a home support provider in Ireland. However, this is about to change through a planned amendment to the Health Act of 2007.
The Department of Health has been focused on the development and implementation of a regulatory framework for providers of home support services. This will ensure that all service users are provided with high-quality, regulated home support services.
The Health (Amendment) (Licensing of Professional Home Support Providers) Bill will regulate home support services in Ireland by establishing a registration system for providers of home support services. It will be an offence to operate a service without being registered. Under the legislation, HIQA’s Chief Inspector for Social Services will be the authority with responsibility for monitoring and assessing compliance with regulations and HIQA national standards.
The Bill will confer on HIQA, the authority to grant, amend and ultimately revoke a registration if home support providers fail to meet minimum requirements. The objective of the proposed registration system is to improve the safety and quality of home support services by ensuring that registered home support providers do not operate below the standard set by Ministerial regulations. Those regulations are to be applied in a consistent and systematic way.
The key aim of the new regulatory framework for providers of home support services is that all service users will be provided with high quality care, focused on the same minimum standards wherever and however they are provided.
The General Scheme is currently with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for final drafting. Department officials are working closely with counterparts in OPC to finalise the Bill.