Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister went on to say that home help maintains people at home, giving them dignity and independence and also saving the taxpayer a lot of money. Since taking office in 2011, the Minister has significantly cut home help hours. Figures revealed by Age Action Ireland show that since 2008, HSE management has slashed home help hours by almost 20%. Almost one half of these reductions have occurred since Deputy Reilly was appointed Minister last year. However, what is most notable is that since Fine Gael and Labour came to power in 2011, the number of home help hours has slumped at an astonishing rate, from 11.2 million in 2011 to a planned 10.25 million by the end of this year. This fall includes a 500,000 hour cut earlier this year and a further 450,000 hour cut announced just two weeks ago. What is even more startling is that all of these cuts happened despite the number of people officially needing the support falling by just 9% during the same period.

Yet again, the market-driven policies so beloved of right-wing parties like Fine Gael take precedence over the real and pressing needs of the most vulnerable in society. In this context, the comment by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, last night that no one would be left without a service cannot be taken seriously. When the Labour Party stands up in this House and defends these cuts, it is consciously and deliberately taking jobs and livelihoods away from the very people they claim to represent, namely the working-class women of Ireland. James Connolly would not agree with these cuts and the party he founded is no more.

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