Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The statistics provided show that more than one third of older people in long-term nursing homes have low to medium dependency needs. This means they could live at home if provided with adequate home care.

The proportion of the elderly population in Ireland living in long-term nursing homes is higher than the European average. Many are in these homes because of the inadequacy of home care services here and the supports which the State offers. We are all in favour of older people living at home and within their communities, as they age, for as long as possible. However, negative developments such as the cuts to home care packages and reductions in housing adaptation grants for the disabled and the elderly are preventing this. Since 2009, more than 1.75 million hours have been cut from the vital and crucial home help service. This has had a devastating affect on home care services and resulted in many people moving prematurely into long-term residential care.

While the programme for Government, the HSE service plan and the national positive aging strategy all offer nominal support for the general idea of older people aging at home, the financial means of achieving this have not been, for the most part, provided. There is a great deal of lip-service, to say the least, and grand aspirations that have fallen short of the targets.

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