The Government has conceded it is struggling to keep up with demand for home help packages and has suggested changes to the scheme. More than 6,000 people are waiting for home help packages. Mr Daly stressed that despite the waiting list, the home help scheme is not closed to new entrants. He pointed out the budget for the home help scheme this year is €450 million, up from €300 million four years ago. For 2019 there are 800,000 additional home help hours, there’s a total of 18 million home help hours available this year.

Source: The Irish Times June 14, 2019 09:56 UTC