Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have an opportunity to make a short contribution on this important motion. Our party spokesperson, Deputy Kelleher, has tabled a very reasonable, fair and important motion. Once again, Deputy Buttimer spoke about us having a motion which does not deal with the real world, but it very much does deal with the real world. If he listened to colleagues from his own party who spoke earlier, they all pointed out the difficulties which arise with the fair deal scheme. All of us who do constituency work have queries every day of the week on the long delays in accessing nursing home care.

Deputy Buttimer also stated no investment was made during the lifetime of the Fianna Fáil Governments, but this is absolutely incorrect. I can speak about my county in particular, where we had major nursing home developments in the early 2000s in Ballyconell and Virginia. Alongside these public nursing homes, primary care centres were also built and provided and they provide an excellent service for these two particular towns and their catchment areas.

Many speakers on all sides of the House stated the desire and aim of all of us is to keep as many people at home for as long as possible. We all want maximum support for home care packages, but there has been terrible pressure because of the reduction in home support hours. Many decisions to approve home support hours make no sense because they mean a half an hour or 45 minutes care for a person who needs far more than this.

An issue to which reference has not been made is having a better whole of Government approach to housing adaptation grants. Far too often applications are with local authorities for a particularly long time, and unfortunately this causes undue stress, distress and annoyance for families and the person who needs the care and attention. If house improvements are to be carried out they should be carried out when the people need these extra comforts and facilities in their home and not after they wait for years for them to be delivered. It causes frustration and annoyance.

The fair deal scheme was introduced a few years ago, and it has proved to be very successful. It needs to be funded adequately. It was introduced because of the ageing demographics in the country. It was innovative and progressive, and based on providing financial support to people who need long-term nursing home care, whether in a private or public facility. It allowed people make a small contribution to their care, with the State taking on the major burden. It is quite ironic that at the time the Fine Gael leader, who is now Taoiseach, spoke about a new death tax.

It showed how out of touch he was regarding that policy. The three-year cap is a very good provision in the scheme.

In my constituency, Cavan-Monaghan, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people on the fair deal scheme waiting list, which has increased by 300% in one year. In a relatively small area approximately 83 people were on the waiting list in September. The families of those people, who are contacting the public representatives, are very worried. This whole area needs to be addressed. I hope the service plan the HSE will produce shortly will put adequate funding in place for this very important scheme. The last thing elderly people, whose health and lifestyle are deteriorating, and their families need is the constant worry about getting access to a nursing home bed when they need it.

In recent weeks I have come across cases of people in Cavan-Monaghan who had been in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and were placed in a step-down facility in County Louth, which is quite a distance from most parts of County Cavan and County Monaghan. That shows the pressure on nursing home places and step-down facilities. It gives rise to pressure on families who do not need extra stress at a time when their loved ones' health is deteriorating.

See this speech in context