Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not know how the Minister of State can be happy to say she has responded to this issue. The hours in Longford-Westmeath have been cut. If someone who had ten hours passes away today, only 25% of those hours are reallocated. I can give the House three examples in my constituency. The first is of a gentleman who is wheelchair bound and whose wife, his primary carer, died of cancer three months ago. He has been approved additional home help hours to keep him out of a home, yet no additional home help hours became available.

The second is of a woman in her late 80s who was discharged out of St. Vincent's Hospital in Athlone and who has to be lifted in and out of bed in a hoist. She has only two sons. Where is the dignity in a woman in her 80s having to be cared for by her two sons? She has been approved home help hours but she has received none. She is facing the real possibility of having to go into a nursing home.

The third example is that of a gentleman in County Longford. This man is being fed through a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy, PEG, is confined to a wheelchair and is doubly incontinent. His sister took retirement to provide him with full-time care. He spent eight weeks in hospital. He has been approved home help hours but he has only received ten of the 20 hours approved. His sister was made swear an affidavit that she would take him out if he was taken in for two weeks' respite. The woman is at breaking point. She cannot take him home.

I do not know how the Minister of State can say she is happy that she has been able to respond.

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