Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

During the last general election I called to a door on one of those wet miserable nights. Up to that point, people were not really engaging. I came across a woman who was a carer and who was livid about the cuts in services. I met some carers about a half an hour ago who spoke about the difficulties they faced in what they were being asked to do. Many of them said they were basically being asked to work for nothing and that it was wrong. They were also being asked to make a choice in regard to patients, in many cases elderly ones, who they were looking after. The choice was whether to spend more time with them, which is the human thing to do, or to go home to their families. In many cases, the carers spent more time with the patients at the expense of their own family life.

I spoke to that woman after the general election and she said she noted in the programme for Government that the Government would maintain, if not increase, services. I spoke to her recently and she was again livid but with this Government. The change she voted for did not happen.

I spoke to her about a family I called to in my constituency. The man was released from hospital, he could not walk, was carried up the stairs and left there. His wife used a walking stick, was an alcoholic and could not look after herself while his son was a drug addict. That man was sent home to those conditions. I visited the house. There was no fire lighting and the man was starving.

I raised the issue with the Health Service Executive in the area and asked how this could happen in this day and age. People informed me that individuals looking for care or care in the community have no rights. That strikes me as crazy. This man was released from hospital, which cleared a bed, but was he released to be sent home to die or was he supposed to be released into an environment in which people looked after him? There are 7,500 people living in that same area but it does not have a primary care centre or a doctor. This man was released into that environment. Meals-on-wheels are not delivered to that area. Thankfully, help arrived eventually but it was a long time coming. We have money for many things but people cannot understand why do not prioritise this area.

We seem to be contradicting ourselves in what we are doing. A decision was made to close St. Brigid's, Crooksling, which looks after women with dementia, many of whom are high dependency, and patients in Tallaght hospital were told they could not be moved there. I am glad that decision was reversed and it will remain open. It did not make sense. The home was supposed to close because of a lack of money but more was spent keeping patients in beds in Tallaght hospital. It would cost a fraction of that amount to keep those elderly women in St. Brigid's. What we are doing does not add up. People deserve our help. We need cross-party support for the work the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, is trying to do. We need to legislate and give people rights.

See this speech in context