Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Troy is right. I welcome the €40 million, but there is a gap period and we are not seeing this funding on the ground. HSE officials tell me that when it is distributed it will only bring the hours back up to a certain level, which is only a drop in the ocean. That is what the Minister of State's officials are saying. I am telling her the truth.

I know of a lady in Newport who has dementia and a terminal illness. She is to get ten hours. It is an incredible scenario. I had to fight to get it increased from five hours to ten. My real point is that this is financially the most solid thing the Government could do. It costs €7,000 if a person is kept, bed blocking, in a hospital. It costs on average €1,500 to have someone in a nursing home versus €500 for the cost of a reasonable amount of home help. This is socially the right thing to do, but financially it is also the right thing to do. I ask the Minister of State to please go back and get adequate funding for this service.

See this speech in context