Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for attending. Many of my questions have been asked, especially about the Health (Amendment) (Professional Home Care) Bill 2020. It was very important to us. Last week, we launched a report on independent living. What supports will be provided to people to make decisions on home care and living arrangements and will impact on the drive to independent living? I come across that issue often in my clinics. How will marginalised, vulnerable, hard-to-reach and minority groups of older people be supported in respect of home care?

We spoke about the mental health Bill. I was glad to hear that is being worked on and hopefully it will be done as soon as possible. It is very important.

Will the Minister of State elaborate on any cross-departmental initiatives to support people as they age to maintain, improve or manage their physical mental health and well-being?

I have been raising the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill. I am delighted to hear that legislation should be passed by the end of the year.

I have always been concerned about staff recruitment and the Minister of State always raises the issue. I know the funding is available, and that is really welcome, but the position is similar in the area of home care packages. I deal with families daily where someone has been sent home from hospital with no home care package put in place. Especially with the cost of living now, people are working to survive and they are finding it very hard to mind a parent or person with a disability. It is creating major challenges.

Some families I have been working with get home care for half an hour three times a day, in the morning, at dinner time and in the evening. At the weekend, they get half an hour in the morning and again in the evening. As the Minister of State mentioned, two carers are often needed. Many people tell me that half an hour is not enough and they need more support or help. How will the recruitment problem be sorted out? The funding is in place. The only people suffering are the most vulnerable. I know the Minister of State is committed to addressing this. She stated: "The Government and I are committed to the reform of mental health services in Ireland". That is the most positive commitment.

I know there are challenges within mental health services. I face them every day when I talk to people. I am in CHO 5, as the Minister of State knows from her visits to Carlow, for which I thank her. The challenges in mental health are to provide more supports and services and to recruit more staff. Recruitment also seems to be the issue with regard to home care packages.

I am thinking about the different CHOs. I was working on a case yesterday involving a lady who had a really bad stroke. She lives on the border of Carlow and Laois. She is half an hour from Portlaoise but two minutes from Carlow. I informed CHO 5 that this lady lives in County Carlow and gets the bus into Carlow town to do all her shopping. It takes her half an hour to get to Portlaoise. CHO 5 told me it cannot interfere. Common sense has to prevail here. There is no point in CHO 5 telling me it will not take this case. Families are going through enough. The cost of living is a huge issue for people. If someone has to travel to Portlaoise every day, twice a day, what is the cost? I know the Minister of State has made a commitment to this but all the CHOs need to show common sense, which is not the case.

Many of my questions were answered. I know how hard the Minister of State works on this. I see the challenges. Whatever we can do to try to help families and people with disabilities is important.