Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the organisations for coming before us and giving a very comprehensive submission. I am concerned about the way the adjustments were made to home care packages in the past few months. One of the problems arising is that because people doing home help or care are not permanent and pensionable, it is an easy element to cut. I raise the idea of getting the Department to ring-fence the home help budget for 2013 so that in August 2013, if there is a budgetary problem with the HSE, we will not be going first to the element that is not permanent and pensionable or the home care packages. That should be done.

I met somebody the other day who was getting half a carer's allowance, which is €100 per week. The person's mother has Alzheimer's disease and it is a full-time job taking care of her. That person is saving €900 per week for the State because it would cost €1,000 per week for a place in a nursing home. We must be very proactive in ensuring we do not have a repetition of what has happened this year in 2013. The only way of doing this is by ring-fencing the budget within the HSE right across the country.

I support fully the comments of the witnesses and we must support people. We must grow the number of people we can keep at home for longer than in the past. We must ensure this can be done through future budget planning as well. I am not sure of the view of the witnesses on ring-fencing the budget.