Mr. Desmond Kenny:

Ms Gaynor has said everything. Deputy Ellis could have been sitting on this side of the table as he made his contribution. The over-65s are a group in need and those people should be considered. We must also consider the dismantling of home care hours and giving them back by way of PA hours within that budget. I have heard in recent times of cases involving night care. I heard the mother of a particular individual talking about how he was terrified of moving out on his own because no PA would come in the morning to, as Ms Gaynor said, get him up and shower him. That is a terror people have. It is fear of the unknown and of the undelivered.

The HSE can talk about flexibility and mobility in reassembling the parts. Many HSE services nowadays are like using a jigsaw without a box with a picture to show you how to make it up. The plan is being made up as it goes along because of the goodwill and best ingenuity of the people on the ground. That is no longer acceptable. We need consistency in what we do. We need a schematic for it. This thing about flexibility and mobility is outside of the context of people knowing their rights, how to access them and moderate them, and have them argued for if there is any breakdown.