On December 9^th 2025, the Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and the Minister of State for Older People and Housing, Kieran O’Donnell, welcomed Cabinet approval for the publication of the Health (Amendment) ( Home Support Providers) Bill 2025.

The Bill amends the Health Act of 2007 to provide for a registration framework for home support providers, while making it an offence to operate a home support service without a registration, and incorporating transitional arrangements for existing home support providers.

The bill proposes a comprehensive system of national quality standards, which will be developed by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). These standards co-exist with the minimum requirements outlined in regulations issued by the Minister for Health.

The bill creates two layers of oversight for home-support providers:

• The Chief Inspector of Social Services has overall responsibility for ensuring compliance with the law, and
• The HIQA inspectorate will conduct physical inspections and check their operations against the standards, reporting their findings.

If serious breaches are identified, their reports can result in enforcement actions, such as suspension or cancellation of registration. The legislation aims to ensure that home-support services are delivered safely and to a consistently high standard.

Minister Carroll MacNeill said, “In a first for Ireland, this Bill will introduce the registration and regulation of professional home support services by HIQA and the Chief Inspector of Social Services.

“Regulation is fundamental to ensuring that all service users are provided with high quality care with the same minimum standards wherever and however it is provided, in line with best international practice.

“Amongst other measures, it will provide the Chief Inspector with a range of powers and will make it an offence to provide a home support service without being registered.

“The Chief Inspector will also be responsible for monitoring and assessing compliance of registered home support providers against regulations and HIQA standards.”

Minister of State O’Donnell said, “Home Support is a vital service that is delivered to many people across the country every day, by public, private and voluntary providers. It is essential that it is properly regulated nationwide.

“The introduction of this Bill demonstrates the progress that we are making in reforming home support and is an integral step in delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to design a statutory homecare scheme to allow people to stay in their home for as long as possible.

“This regulatory framework and inspection process will ensure that the public can be confident that the home support services provided are of a high quality and standard.”

The bill will now progress through the various legislative stages before the Oireachtas. Once passed and signed into law by the President, the bill will become an act. The Minister for Health will then set a commencement date for all or parts of the act.

 

NB – This is a guide for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have an issue requiring legal advice, please contact any of the team at Nolan Farrell & Goff LLP, whose numbers can be found on our website www.nfg.ie, or email info@nfg.ie.