Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Members who contributed to the motion. We received a great deal of criticism from Government Members for tabling it. They said it was ill-timed, it was not constructive and it did not provide solutions, yet they then spoke to the substantive issue, which is the difficulties people face in accessing fair deal scheme beds.

The waiting lists speak for themselves. A total of 560 people were waiting for four weeks on average last January for approval under the scheme whereas now more than 2,100 are waiting on average for 15 weeks. This issue is very much to the fore of people's minds. It affects significant cohorts of the population, especially those who are vulnerable. When I asked the Taoiseach on the Order of Business earlier for a debate on the HSE service plan that will be published next week, I described the programme for Government as a book of fiction. The more I read it, the more I think the programme is fraudulent. Under the heading, "Fairness", the Government parties state in the context of care of older people and community care:

Investment in the supply of more and better care for older people in the community and in residential settings will be a priority of this Government.

Additional funding will be provided each year for the care of older people. This funding will go to more residential places, more home care packages and the delivery of more home help and other professional community care services. The Fair Deal system of financing nursing home care will be reviewed with a view to developing a secure and equitable system of financing for community and long-term care which supports older people to stay in their own homes.

This is the stated mission of the Government, as endorsed by the Parliament in 2011.

The Fine Gael and Labour parties are heading into their fifth year in government and they are going backwards in the provision of community-based funding for nursing homes, home care packages and home helps. The Government has been mean in its approach to older people. Reference has been made by Members, particularly on this side of the House, to medical cards, access to GP services, funding for nursing home packages, home care packages and home helps. There has been a systematic assault on the level of services and supports in our community. This is highlighted and reinforced by the fact that more than 2,100 people are waiting 15 weeks on average for approval to access a nursing home bed. The sinister element to this is that people who need a nursing home bed tomorrow, the day after or next week have to wait 15 weeks for approval and they will also be charged up to €15,000 while the Government's policy of delaying the application process continues apace.

The Minister referred to the famous budget cap. This is the result of a Government decision, which is not cast in statute or in stone. The cap is in place because the Government parties decided last year in the budget that was passed in this House that they would reduce the funding for the nursing homes support scheme. The HSE service plan stated there would be a reduction of 700 beds. It was evident from early last year that there would be difficulties. Opposition Members highlighted that the health budget was not sustainable overall and, in particular, in respect of the fair deal scheme. We are having this debate because the Government prioritised and decided that funding should be diverted elsewhere. This is about choices. The choice the Government made is to try to buy cohorts of the electorate through tax reductions and other means of garnering support.

We know what the Government parties are at. They have focus groups and they know the areas they want to target in the context of the people they claim to represent. However, in the crossfire, older people suffer day in, day out as they wait inordinate periods to access a nursing home bed, which is disgraceful.

9 o’clock

Four years ago in 2010, the Taoiseach shouted to the 30,000 people protesting on Molesworth Street about the then Government's removal of the universal right to a medical card for the over 70s, "Shame on them; shame on them; shame on them", referring in that regard to the Government of the day. He was passionate. The then leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Gilmore, was equally passionate. I almost believed them myself.

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