Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister described it as a useful instrument and I have no doubt but that benefits can accrue through the creation of capacity. However, I could be forgiven for thinking it is a useful instrument for the Government, which is failing in its duties to provide public nursing home capacity. That is the real failure and even considering the budget measures before Members today, they are quite pathetic - that is not too strong a word to use - with regard to the additional commitment to health for 2016. After taking in the Supplementary Estimate to the end of this year, one is only looking at €18 million in real additionality for the provision of general practitioner access for children up to 12 years of age and certain therapy supports for children. There is no other new commitment and yet, time after time, Members have spoken of the real capacity crisis within the health system. A particular component part of the range of measures that must be taken to address the build-up, the delayed discharges and the considerable crisis in emergency departments and through the hospital sector is the provision of public nursing home capacity, of which there is not enough. There has been no building programme in that regard. There is a continued dependency on the private sector to bail out the Government, which is clearly failing in its responsibilities and duties to provide for the needs of a particular sector of the population, not least for older citizens who most definitely need the option of care in a residential setting at some point in their later years.

It is most regrettable that as a society we continue to depend only on the initiative and entrepreneurial spirit of some and we fail societally in our responsibility to provide for citizens. This is exactly what has happened again with budget 2016. The Government has failed to provide for the needs of older citizens, particularly with regard to safe care and appropriate settings when that is the unquestionable need of the person concerned, who is no longer able to live alone or in the circumstances he or she has known as home for many years previously. It is a most worrying indication of where the Government is at and while I can appreciate this might be the natural penchant of the Minister, Deputy Bruton, in this regard, it strikes me as strange that the Labour Party would be a party to this continued failure to address the needs of senior citizens, particularly at present when there is an upturn in the economy. I must record great concern regarding the measure as presented for the reasons I have explained.

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