Mr. Justin Moran:

We would agree with the principle but would have question marks about how it would work. To access the fair deal scheme, for example, a person needs to pass a care needs assessment and be assessed as having a level of care that could only be treated in a nursing home. Many people who need home help support would not meet that criterion. Second, with the fair deal scheme, part of the payments are made with a levy on the family home on the basis that one is not in the family home any more but in a nursing home. Home help, on the other hand, is received at home. We will be arguing for a statutory scheme specifically designed for home help and home care, rather than that the fair deal scheme be adapted to fit. They are quite different processes.

We need to avoid setting nursing homes and home care against each other. We need a continuum of care and many older people will never need any home help or home care supports. A percentage will need home help and a percentage will need home care while some will need to go into nursing homes. Consequently, we need investment in quality nursing homes. The funding for fair deal and the application process are working reasonably well at the moment.

As regards transport, we have an information helpline available to people to contact us on benefits entitlements etc. With the threat of the Bus Éireann strike we got a large number of phone calls, particularly from people in rural communities who were concerned about how it would affect them. As Ms Feely mentioned, one of the differences between the incomes of pensioners in rural areas and those in urban areas is transport and we have dealt with a lot of people who have raised the issue of car insurance. They may be eligible for the travel pass but they do not have public transport so it does not make much of a difference to them. They need to keep a car on the road and to pay for petrol or diesel and car insurance. These transport costs are an issue for a lot of older people.