Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister here to debate this important legislation. I shall commence by giving credit to the last government for introducing the nursing home subvention scheme. It is one of the better schemes and is reasonable. A sign of a good scheme is one that can be tweaked and improved. Senator Darragh O'Brien wondered whether we would be back here next year to debate certain issues again. I sincerely hope that we will not but we may have to return here to improve the scheme.

Senators must deal with constituents on a daily basis. Most of my constituents that contact me about the scheme and their loved ones who avail of the scheme are reasonably satisfied. There are exceptions to the rule. I spoke to a retired public servant whose wife suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Unfortunately, even with two pensions and the scheme, he must pay up to €800 per week for his wife to avail of nursing home care.

The way he looks at it is that he worked and contributed all his life for what he would consider a good pension and to have that amount of the pension going into the scheme is regrettable because he is in a situation in which he is struggling to survive. He has appealed it unsuccessfully.

It is a good scheme. Much is happening to support the elderly. We have been requesting an increase in the level of inspections for a long time. We are seeing much more activity there. We all commented on the worrying "Prime Time Investigates" programme on crèches a couple of weeks ago and we all wonder if there are horrific scenarios in nursing homes. We have had reports of that in the past. The Minister is deeply committed to ensuring that the highest possible level of care is available to older people, that inspections are increased and that the standards expected of these nursing homes are maintained and improved on.

We are facing a situation in which the age of the population will increase considerably, we hope, due to advances in health care and treatments. We heard earlier of the average lifespan pushing up to the 80s in the future. Society must plan for that scenario. The fundamentals are there. We are in an atrocious financial abyss, but we must get certain priorities right. Incrementally, we are working on that. Those who run nursing homes are, by and large, very committed to their work and profession and are making a big difference to the lives of people. The standards have increased dramatically over the last number of years and I hope we will see a further increase in the future.