Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Kelleher for bringing forward this motion. Following receipt of many representations from families in my constituency on this issue, I raised it some six or eight weeks ago with the Minister by way of Topical Issue.

As stated by Deputy Kelleher, this is unfortunately a real crisis borne out of a financial or accounting trick which has blown up in the face of Government. It is, unfortunately, deplorable that the Government would allow this crisis to develop and thus target the sickest and most vulnerable elderly people in our society. I was puzzled, amused and amazed to hear the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, when questioned about this issue here and in the public domain blame the budget cap. Who set the budget cap? Was it not the Minister and his Government? Who is responsible for the budget cap? Is it not the Minister and his Government? Who is accountable? The Minister and this Government are accountable for the way in which they spend taxpayers' money, the manner in which they set caps across the board and the way in which they deliver services to society. The Minister and the Government can supplement the budget cap and rectify the wrong now that it has been exposed.

Under this Government waiting lists in respect of the fair deal scheme have tripled in one year. We have the figures to prove this - I am sure the Minister of State is well aware of them - by virtue of responses to parliamentary questions tabled in recent times. These figures range from 280% in respect of counties Limerick, Clare, north Tipperary and east Limerick to 300% in many other counties, including Offaly and Laois. This is one of the greatest sins of this Government. The continuing procrastination by Government must stop. The people need to understand that the Government is spending more money on keeping elderly people in hospitals than it would cost to have them placed in nursing homes. It should be noted that this Government has also made a conscious decision not to pay applicants from the date of application but from the date of approval, which is 14 to 16 weeks later. There is wide acceptance among the general population that many people cannot afford to pay the property tax and impending water charges yet this Government expects these people to fork out up to €14,000 over 12 to 14 weeks.

Earlier today, I surveyed the nursing homes in Shinrone, Birr, Banagher, Ferbane, Clara and Tullamore. There are up to 30 beds available at these units awaiting fair deal applicants, most of whom are currently in acute hospital beds. It costs €750 per day for a hospital bed and €750 per week for a nursing home bed. The cost per week in my county of keeping these people in hospital is €135,000. Over 15 weeks, this amounts to €2.125 million. If these people were in nursing homes the cost would be €675,000. The wastage in my county under this scheme is €1.45 million, the majority of which I expect is attributable to Tullamore Regional Hospital. This wastage could be used to support house adaptation grant applicants in Offaly. I understand there are 70 people over and above the 30 people already referred to in my county who are awaiting approval under this scheme and have been told that approval may take up to five years. If that money was used in this area - I understand the average grant is €15,000 - there would be further savings of €15 million in my county of Offaly. These people are being told by the local authority and, by association, the Government that they must wait five years for approval of applications yet the cost associated with fair deal for them in respect of those five years, by virtue of the fact that they cannot adapt their homes, would be €15 million. That is the new politics that is prevalent in this country today, in the greatest small country in the world in which to do business.

The facts of the matter are damning. This Government is overcrowding hospitals when it does not have to do so. It is penalising jobs in nursing homes and crippling families who cannot cope with the expectations on them. This Government is depriving the elderly of a dignified, caring and fulfilled existence and is, by virtue of the example of what is happening in Offaly, wantonly wasting taxpayers' funds. It is penalising quality nursing homes and removing the prospect of economic activity in communities by virtue of the delay in processing house adaptation grants. It is not allowing those that might have had the possibility of remaining in their homes and communities the opportunity to do so. There is no getting away from the facts in this regard. Some form of joined up thinking would address those issues but this Government is failing to do so and continues to waste money.

This motion had to be tabled in order for people to realise what is happening across the country. It pains me to say, as I am sure it pains the Minister of State to hear, that this scheme has been discredited and demeaned. It is time, now that this Government has been found out, that it was put right. People should not be taken for fools any more on this issue. I am conscious when saying that of the explanation that has been offered, which is very lazy one, namely, that this is the fault of the budget cap. The Minister of State's colleagues and the Government set the budget cap. They are responsible for the budget cap. They have an obligation to meet the demands of this scheme. Next time the Taoiseach wants to tell people throughout the world that this country is, as I said earlier, the greatest small country in the world in which to do business he better be conscious that it is not the greatest small country in the world in which to grow old gracefully as one will be deprived of the services associated with that in the absence of one's family being able to afford them. I commend the motion.

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