About
Who we are
CareMap helps families work out what support, funding and care options may be relevant when an older person needs more help — and what to do next.
What we are
We are an independent Irish consumer information service. We explain how the system works in plain English, help you narrow down what may apply to your situation, and tell you what to prepare and what to ask.
What we are not
- We are not the HSE, a government department or a local authority, and we are not connected to them.
- We are not a medical or diagnostic service. Nothing here assesses a person's health or capacity.
- We are not a nursing home marketplace and we take no placement or referral fees.
- We cannot decide eligibility, approve funding or allocate hours. Those decisions belong to the bodies that run each scheme.
How we handle facts
Rates, thresholds and waiting times change, and out-of-date figures do real harm when someone is making a decision about a family home or a parent's care. So we describe how things work and link to the body that publishes the current numbers, rather than reprinting figures we cannot keep current.
Every support page carries a review status and, where relevant, the date it was last reviewed. Where we don't know something — a local phone number, a regional boundary — we say so instead of guessing.
Our commercial position
- We do not accept payment to include, rank or reorder public schemes or factual guidance.
- Private care is shown as a clearly separated optional pathway, never as a better option because it is paid for.
- If a commercial relationship exists with a named provider, that relationship is stated on every page where the provider appears.
- We do not take referral fees for nursing home placements.
Private home care appears in our plans only as a clearly separated optional pathway, usually where timing or coverage is the pressing problem. It is never presented as better because it is paid for.
Who this is for
Adult children and family carers trying to work out what to do next, and older people looking at their own options. Most people arrive at a difficult moment — after a fall, during a hospital discharge, or when it becomes clear that managing at home has stopped working. We try to be useful in that moment, not comprehensive.