Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

On the first two submissions regarding smoking tobacco and the proposal for the establishment of a regulator, how would that tie in with Single Market rules and are there implications in that regard? There is great merit in what the organisation is doing, but perhaps the witness would discuss the logistics of it.

With regard to the other presentations, I have a question about home help. Is there not a problem with the consistency of home help delivery throughout the country? In some parts of the country there are one hour allocations while in others there are 15 minute allocations. There is also an inconsistency in what home help provides. It is personal care in my part of the country and in many others, but in other areas it also includes home support, for example, assisting a person who lives in an isolated area. That lack of consistency is causing significant anomalies and people are losing out.

In the three presentations from Mr. John Dunne, Mr. John McCormack and Mr. Sean Dillon there is a consistent theme that there is a lack of joined-up thinking between the acute sector, the hospitals, and the community sector and that significant savings could be made if there were joined-up thinking in that context. I have a question for Mr. John Dunne on that issue. There is a statutory right to nursing home subvention, or the fair deal scheme. He is arguing that this statutory right should be extended to community services. In the current economic climate that statutory right will not be extended. What is being considered at present is that a similar means assessment would be introduced for community services as is currently in place for the fair deal scheme. Is there an argument to be made to move that a step further whereby if an applicant is approved for the fair deal scheme, they can have the option of going into long-term residential care or having a community fair deal package put in place? It is a type of middle ground but it ensures that elderly people are not left in a position where they must either go into the home or be left without any services.