Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As we will share time in equal proportion, perhaps the Chair would interrupt me after five minutes.

I thank Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin for tabling the motion. We tabled an amendment stating that we are in accord with everything stated in the motion but we also want to get on the record the issue of publishing the national positive ageing strategy.

Let us be clear - €8 million has been cut from home helps and services will be withdrawn. The chief executive of Health Service Executive and others have said nobody will be without a service. They will have a lesser service and home help hours will be cut. People who had three and four hours home help previously will have a reduced service. We all accept they will have a service but the service will not be adequate to deal with the complexity of issues facing those being cared for in the home.

I suggest the Minister of State return to her office, take out page 31 of the programme for Government, photocopy it, give it to the Minister for Health and ask him to read it one more time. Everything that is being done in regard to home care package cuts is against the grain of the programme for Government. It states explicitly that year on year there will be increased funding for people in home care packages, home help and other services to older people. Clearly what is happening is the exact opposite. The Government is withdrawing services on a daily basis from those who need home help support. Basic economics shows that it makes no sense to withdraw home care services and home help hours and force people into institutions, residential care or acute hospital settings. That is exactly what is happening. We know the results of a reduction in services and supports for people who want to remain in the home.

This is not about the troika or the difficulties the country faces, but about choices made by the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, in dealing with the substantive issues that underpinned the budget presented to the House last year. Great fanfare was made of the consultant contracts but not one euro has been saved since. There was an explicit commitment in the programme for Government that the Government would reduce the numerous packages of consultants. We were told the generic price referencing would come through and that €124 million would be saved. To date, not one euro has been saved. Those are two areas I can identify, and we can go through some more. It was stated there would be a reduction in agency staff that would deal with the issue of over-runs in the budget. Clearly none of this has happened, hence the reason we are debating the issue of a cut of €8 million to home help services. What has happened is that there has been a budget over-run. The budget projections and figures of last year were built on a foundation of sand.

A member of the Committee of Public Accounts, Deputy Simon Harris, from the Fine Gael Party, said clearly that it is obvious last year's budget was built on sand. It unravelled very quickly. The difficulty is that in unravelling the budget, many thousands of people live in fear of receiving another letter from the Health Service Executive stating that an assessment of home help hours is taking place and, accordingly, there will be a reduction. I have yet to meet a person in recent weeks who has had a home help service increase; everybody's home help service is being decreased. Some of the private agencies say we offer 15 minutes for home helps. Is there anything most people could do in 15 minutes? We are talking about caring for people who want to remain in their home setting, yet we are offering them a 15 minute package where the home help comes in, does something in 15 minutes and heads off down the driveway. This is an attack on the basic principle of trying to care for people in the home in the lowest cost setting. All the analysis, matrics and indices the Department of Health has show clearly that this is the most cost-effective way of treating people and keeping them out of acute settings and long-term stay. This is a false policy in economics terms. I am not directing this at the Minister of State but the Minister - this is an attack on the most vulnerable who have given a life of service to the country and all we ask is that the €8 million cut in the budget be reversed and found elsewhere. I can identify three or four places immediately where that could be done. The Minister identified them last year and has yet to do anything about them.

I thank Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, Older and Bolder and the many voluntary organisations who, day and night, are advocating on behalf of the elderly who need home help hours and home care packages and support to remain in their homes and, more important, for Government support in reversing the nasty cuts.

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