Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)

I welcome and support this Private Members' motion. I want to focus on the privatisation of care and the need for health to be treated as a community service. Not only are we moving toward more private hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, we are moving towards a franchise approach to the delivery of home care. We built a home help system through the health boards over many years. It stemmed from volunteerism and was subsequently recognised by a small payment, although the work that was done was never fully rewarded. Often the home help did significantly more hours than he or she was paid for. Instead of building on that system, however, we are moving towards the introduction of a franchise approach.

The website of the Comfort Keepers franchise has a banner that reads "In-home care for seniors and loved ones". It continues:

People are living longer. Society is becoming more mobile as children are living farther away from their parents. Two income families are becoming the norm so nursing homes and assisted living centres are bursting at the seams. While at the same time, an incredible number of elderly people are looking for any means available to avoid going into those nursing homes and retirement centres. They want to remain in their homes. This provides an untapped market for owners of a Comfort Keepers franchise.

The services the company offers include meal preparation, transport to doctors' appointments, light housekeeping and, in some cases, personal care such as bathing, dressing and mobility. A franchise with the company costs around €26,000 plus establishment costs. The company operates in America, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. In highlighting this I am questioning the philosophy that drives such decisions. We are truly becoming the 53rd state. While there is much to be admired about America, its health service is not something to emulate.

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