Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise this issue in the context of the various cutbacks and adjustments that have been made to home support in the caring sector. For elderly people, the disabled, the immobile and the disadvantaged, the home help scheme, along with the other care schemes, is invaluable. The benefit of the health budget to the economy as a whole is obvious. Supporting and maintaining people in a home setting for as long as is practical and possible is very desirable.

There has been a whole sequence of adjustments and cutbacks to the home help scheme, particularly the number of hours available to particular families. While I will not cite the individual cases that have cropped up in the Louth-Meath East constituency, I am sure they mirror the position across the country. I exhort the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, to take a serious and urgent look at the scheme. It is so valuable to people living in a home setting that this bears reiteration time and again. Even at a time when resources are scarce, there is a need to prioritise, and there is certainly a need to prioritise the home help scheme. I encourage and exhort the Minister of State to urgently re-examine the situation to see whether additional resources can be made available to support this scheme.

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