Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister of State. I thank Sinn Féin for allowing me speaking time, for tabling this important Private Members' motion and for the briefing organised by Deputy Ó Caoláin. This is important because there is an agenda by the Government to introduce privatisation. In 2007, the HSE paid a private company, Home Instead, €621,000 and last year it paid the same company €6.02 million. The Government wants to privatise the care of elderly people. The only thing keeping care going is that home helps are working for nothing. Where a person is in a wheelchair, one cannot take care of personal needs in 15, 25 or 30 minutes. It takes however long it takes and these people do the work rather than looking at the clock. They do the job for however long it takes and take an amount of money that is always less than the hours allotted to them.

Last night in Kerry, I met a large group of home helps. I informed them that Sinn Féin was introducing an important Private Members' motion which would result in a vote. I told them Fianna Fáil, the Independents and other groups would support them and that it was up to them to contact Labour Party and Fine Gael Deputies to ask whether they were in favour of taking care of elderly people in their homes or having matters dictated by the troika and Government policy. One cannot be for two things on this issue. One is either with the older people in our community, who want the dignity and privacy of care in their homes, or one is for something else, but one cannot be in favour of two things. It drives me mad when Deputies go home pandering and kissing the backsides of people at home, promising they will do this, that and the devil. When they come here, Deputies do the exact opposite and that is not right. Deputies should be straight in their dealings and tell people they will not back them on this issue and that they are with the Government. Deputies try to say one thing at home and something else in the Chamber.

Privatisation is the agenda. I thank the unions for the work they have done in representing home care workers. They are doing so to the best of their ability but I want them to be tough on the point that we cannot bow down and say it is acceptable if people only have 20 minutes to look after someone. Unions must fight that type of nonsense. The majority of us adore our elderly people. Why do we adore them? They were there before us, they are older than us and it is in all of us to respect our elderly people. I compliment Older and Bolder on the great work it does and the way it stands up for old people. We may not survive long enough to be old but, if we do, we would like to think that people will take care of us, respect us and do right by us. The motion asks that we do right by the elderly people in our society.

I had the privilege of serving with the Minister of State, along with great people such as Joe Sherlock, on what was the Southern Health Board. We were passionate about the services in our communities and I know this measure does not sit well with the Minister of State. I am not being political and I know where her heart lies. I would love to see people rising up and refusing to toe the line and voting with their hearts and for what they believe in.

Being factual about it from a money point of view, we all know it is cheaper and economical to take care of people in their homes rather than putting them in private nursing homes or in long stay beds in our community hospitals. It is infinitely more expensive to take care of people in that way so our home helps provide a great service at minimal cost. They keep people where they want to be in order that neighbours and people in the community can visit them, and it keeps them out of the hospital structure. When they go to bed at night, those people are lying down in the one place everyone in the world likes to be: one's own bed. I ask the Minister of State to take on board the compassion shown by every Deputy.

I compliment every Deputy who spoke on this motion.

In particular, I compliment Deputy Micheál Martin on highlighting page 31 of the programme for Government which has been, effectively, shredded with the continuation of cuts.

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