Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman. I have raised many of the issues that I wish to raise with the HSE at its HSE South forum meetings in Cork over the years. We have now reached a crisis point in Kerry. One of the issues is the provision of home help services. A lady, a double amputee, was getting an enhanced home care package with 20 hours of home help in County Cork, where she was moved to stay with one of her daughters on being discharged from hospital, but when she moves back to County Kerry she will get only ten hours of home help. With regard to the reduction in home help hours, there is a serious anomaly between the two counties that needs to be addressed. We have been told it is a staffing issue and that the service does not have the necessary funding to acquire more staff. That needs to be urgently addressed. It is not satisfactory that very sick people who are being cared for at home do not get home help at the weekend, on bank holidays, or on Christmas Day, St. Stephen's Day or New Year's Day. That is not good enough.

Kenmare Community Hospital and Dingle Community Hospital are operating at half their capacity, as only half of their bed complement is open. There is only one respite bed in Kenmare Community Hospital for the catchment area served by that hospital. Those who care for their elderly relatives at home - often it is a son or daughter who minds an elderly parent at home - should be able to get respite care for those they care for, but only one respite bed is open in Kenmare Community Hospital. It is a new state-of-the-art building but, sadly, it is only operating at half capacity.

A new mental health facility built on St. Margaret's Road in Killarney at a cost of €40 million was completed almost a year ago but has not been opened. The provision of mental health services throughout the county is a serious issue. What is the delay in the opening of that grand facility? Independent Deputies were criticised over the weekend for having lists of requests or projects to be completed in their constituencies. I make no apology to the Minister for asking him to staff that facility. Funding was provided to build it, and now that it is has been built, all that is required is that it be staffed. Regardless of whether the Minister is in office only for a few more days or is the incoming Minister, I ask him to address this issue urgently while it is still within his power to so do.

There is a serious deficit in catering for the needs of physically and mentally handicapped teenagers in County Kerry. Funding for St. Francis Special School in Beaufort has been seriously cut. Despite the fact that we have highlighted the issue to the Minister and other politicians and made it a national issue over the past two years, the facility has been hit with a lack of funding.

There is a serious delay in the provision of orthodontic treatment for young people. I am dealing with the case of a young fellow who will lose some of his teeth if he does not get treatment shortly. The waiting list is such that it could take anything from one year to three years before he is seen. That is not acceptable.

Elderly people who are on the waiting list for cataract operations are in danger of going blind. Some of them have severely impaired vision. Our requests to the HSE to intervene are falling on deaf ears. That is the problem in this country. No one appears to be responsible for what is not being done or for any wrongs that are done. In his role as Minister for Health, the Deputy should be in total charge of what is happening in the health service, but that does not seem to be the way it is. When we ask representatives of the HSE about these issues at HSE South forum meetings, they say they will ask the Department, and when we ask for more funding, they say they have to refer it to the Department. Yet when the Minister is asked about these issues in the Chamber, he seems to say he will refer the question to the HSE. The buck must stop with someone. That is what is wrong in this country. No one seems to be responsible for anything. I am asking the Minister and his successor to ensure that the disadvantaged and sick and elderly people are seen adequately and equally, because that is not happening at present.

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