Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The amount being cut from home care and home help services is relatively small relative to the overall scale of the cuts being implemented but they will have a significant impact across the country. Just as strategic public spending has a positive multiplier effect in terms of the overall economy, cuts have the opposite impact beyond the initial scale of the money involved. Not only will the scaling back of the level of home help have a negative impact on the lives of the elderly who depend on this service for both practical and indeed social support, it will also further cut into the incomes of households which are under pressure and for whom the payments for their service contribute to the ability of low income families to maintain some quality of life.

There are an estimated 800 home helps in Kerry and several hundred more in the part of Limerick which I currently represent. In the context of hours spent helping the elderly and the lost income, a relatively large number of people will be directly affected by this retrograde step. Home helps are gathering petitions ahead of protests being held in Cork on Thursday and in Dublin on Thursday week. Home helps in Kerry have collected a substantial number of signatures and I am certain that the same applies in other parts of the country. I trust too that those members of the Labour and Fine Gael parties who approve of this latest attack on the fabric of society will take the time to meet the protestors when they arrive on Kildare Street and to explain to them why it is necessary in order that they receive further pats on the head from the IMF and EU for repaying the bank debt.

Some of the Kerry home helps have explained how the visit from them to the old person they care for is often the only one they might have in the entire day. That is particularly the case where people are living in more isolated areas across rural Ireland. Home helps have also said that while they are only paid to be there for a certain period and to do whatever errands need to be done, many of them stay with the person they care for much longer than that, and they maintain contact with them outside of their care hours either through telephone calls or visits. They question whether that would happen if the new system proposed by the HSE is implemented and that needs to be examined.

Home care workers also point out that the level of care they provide will not be possible within the drastically reduced time allowed for home visits, some of which are being reduced to 20 or 30 minutes. I even know of one case where the time for a visit has been reduced to five minutes. I also know of a case of a man aged 103 living in an isolated area with his wife aged 89. They are totally dependent on home help to get their groceries in, to have some quality of life and to have contact with the outside world. The fact that these cuts will impact on them is an absolute and utter disgrace. I do not know how anybody can sit on the Government benches and say the Government has no choice. We all have a choice. The choice is to look after our elderly and people in need. There is a moral obligation on every elected representative to ensure elderly people, as Deputy Ellis said, have dignity at this time of their lives. How can anybody justify reducing a home help visit to five, ten or 15 minutes? I do not know how the Minster of State can try to justify that. Given her background, I assume she fully understands the people who need help and support.

I trust that some Government Members will have the moral courage to stand up for our elderly people who are being discriminated against at the behest of the banks, the ECB and the IMF. They should stand up to those people and say, "We will do the right thing, we will look after our elderly people and we will ensure they have a home help service to provide them with a little contact and security". Home help provides security for people who live in isolated areas. Government Members will find their conscience if they have one. If they vote down this motion, they do not have one.

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