Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is getting the credit for intervening so he might as well take it. I was in Longford last night and a couple of hundred people attended the AGM of St. Christopher’s. Many parents and service users are very relieved at the intervention, which is welcome.

In recent years we have repeatedly heard the mantra from An Taoiseach that he wants Ireland to be the best small country in the world in which to do business. However, we should hear him say that we want to be the best small country in the world in which to be a child. What about being the best small country in the world to grow up in? What about being the best small country in the world in which to raise a family? What about being the best small country in the world in which to grow old? When one looks at many of the policy decisions taken in recent years, it is not the best small country in the world in which to grow old. One need only look at the savage attack on the number of medical cards for senior citizens. Not alone have we removed thousands of medical cards, but we have removed certain items covered by medical cards. We have increased prescription charges. We have abolished the free telephone allowance, something that is leaving older, vulnerable people in a difficult situation, in particular in rural areas because their personal alarm or panic button is reliant on having a land line in the house. Those benefits were abolished by the Government. Cuts were also made to housing aid for the elderly and those with a disability. The budgets have been cut and the eligibility criteria have been modified, which makes it far more difficult for anyone to avail of the grant. There has been a reduction in the electricity allowance and the introduction of property tax for senior citizens. The property tax takes no account of a person’s ability to pay. An older person might live in a valuable house but they have a finite weekly income, which in many cases is only €230 a week. They simply cannot afford the additional stealth taxes and cuts the Government has introduced in recent years.

Not alone is it more difficult for people to live at home, but we are now saying to elderly people that they should not get sick, and if they do, they must be prepared to wait. There is a concerted effort by the Government to leave people languishing on waiting lists. That is morally wrong. Senior citizens, our parents and grandparents, have made this country what it is today. They deserve to be treated with decency and respect. People talk about the fair deal scheme, which was introduced by the previous Government in order to ensure that elderly people could have peace of mind in the event of becoming sick or incapacitated and that they would be looked after in their old age.

The previous Minister decided to divert €23 million from the fair deal budget to community care. I welcome the aim that where possible, older people should be supported in the home.

That community budget needed additional funding. In the Longford-Westmeath area the home help hours were reduced from 331,000 in 2001 to 245,000 in 2013. At a time when the population is getting older this is a savage cut to the number of home help hours provided. It flies in the face of what this Government is saying, that it is taking the money out of the fair deal scheme to provide supports for those living in their own homes. This is not the case.

Why does it always have to be a case of taking funding from one scheme to the detriment of other schemes? Why does every section in the HSE work in a silo? Why is there no consideration given to the effect of a decision in one department on another department?

Acute hospital beds are being blocked because families cannot take people home and elderly people with no families have nowhere to go. Not alone are elderly patients blocking beds, they are not receiving appropriate care. They are susceptible to picking up infections and viruses, they are not being offered activities during the day to stimulate their minds and they are receiving no entertainment. Quite often they are left languishing in acute hospital beds beside people who are terminally ill and dying.

If the Minister does not wish to consider the well-being of patients, surely the economic consequences must be part of his considerations. We are aware the cost of keeping a patient in an acute hospital bed is approximately €200 a day while the cost in a nursing home is €100 a day.

I know of the case of a young man who was in a serious accident. Thankfully, after a number of months in rehabilitation he was ready to be discharged home. However, he was left waiting for a number of months, despite the fact that he was ready to be discharged, because there was not a sufficient budget in the community and disability sector to bring him home. He was left waiting in an inappropriate care setting at a far greater cost to the State because one sector would not talk to the other. That does not add up.

I have plenty more to say but my time has run out.

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