Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I probably was not at that meeting. As I said in the Chamber a few weeks ago, I am not the straw man or the tin man in "The Wizard of Oz". I have a heart. Parents on both sides of my family have needed carers, home help and every service to help people remain in their home. What I say next will probably contradict what I have just said, but I cannot disagree with anything the representatives of the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society said. I also support Senator Crown on this. I pass the Coombe Hospital every day on my way home and it is bewildering to see people standing with a drip in one arm and a smoke in the other hand. I had reason to visit a person who was ill in St. James's Hospital two weeks ago and was surprised to see people were still standing outside smoking. I met a lady three weeks ago when I was canvassing for the referendum and she stood at the door and complained that she was waiting for 12 weeks for a pair of socks from the HSE, yet she could tell me that she smokes 25 cigarettes a day. People in this country need to wake up.

Its costs amount to €29 billion and we must examine the management of people being addicted to things. Senator Crown is not far off my opinion on this.

I have two further comments. I apologise for taking so long but I thought it was important to tell those two stories. I am in favour of the review of home help services. With relatives, friends and parents, I have experience of home helps coming into the house for one hour and spending half of the time having a slice of toast and a cup of tea. This is not about companionship, it is about helping a woman with one leg to be able to make a cup of tea, about sitting her down and taking care of her needs. There is a need to review the home help service. This the beginning of a new era. In communities, people are beginning to cop on that Mary will not come in to sit down with the person for an hour. People have family, friends and neighbours and we need to look into services in the community. There are plenty of organisations and there are many unemployed people who are willing to do something different in the community with their lives while they are unemployed. That must be part of it. I have not yet finished.