Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is okay. I asked the question because Mr. Reid mentioned his background. Let us focus on health. I thank him for all of the documents supplied. One could easily be overwhelmed by them, but they are very useful to us. In his opening statement he talked about the budget and breaking even, which I can understand to a certain extent. He went on to say it would benefit "users, patients and their families." I shall put the matter in perspective. The message I have taken from Mr. Breslin and Mr. Reid is that there is a limited budget within which they try to work and that anything after that is collateral damage. They are my words, not theirs. I know that I am straying into a policy area for the Joint Committee on Health, but there are financial consequences generated for both organisations in pursuing this model and Government policy. The witnesses have mentioned that the number of home help hours is 18 million. In Galway there are 208 people awaiting home support, of whom 176 have been waiting more than 12 months. Of the overall figure, as many as 80 are awaiting an increase in the number of hours. That begs the following question. For how long have they been waiting in reality? A budget has to be implemented. Will I tell the people in question that they are simply collateral damage and that they have to bide their time?