Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 December 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Home Care Services: Discussion

11:20 am

Photo of Bernard DurkanBernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I hate to interrupt, but on almost a weekly basis we have before us a group of people who are in favour of pay restoration and who are very aggrieved that it has not come. They are central providers to the system. There are competing demands and everybody must be cognisant of that and the situation is not a simple one, but we must also be alert to the fact that we could tip over the edge again very quickly. We saw it happen once. I have a feeling that the boom was one of the worst things that ever happened in this country. It made us more avaricious in terms of what we deserve, as opposed to what we can afford. Occasionally it comes to our attention that there are people at the bottom of the system that get squeezed. They do not have the clout or the lobbying power to change anything. The people we are talking about now are the vulnerable, the ill, those with disabilities and the elderly. They are not in such a great place and they say that on a regular basis because that is how they feel.

We are also told on a regular basis that our spending on health is on par with the highest spenders among OECD countries. That leaves us in an awkward position as well. The question is what we can do.

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