Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for her reply. While I welcome the money that was allocated in June of this year, the need for funding is urgent. The most frequent inquiries I receive in my office, and I presume the same is the case for every other Deputy, relate to home help hours and home care packages. It has been Government policy since 1960 to support older people to stay at home for as long as possible. For this vision to become a reality, we need to have increased investment in home care packages and the home help service.

As I mentioned, for every €10 million the Government invests in home care packages, the Department of Health will save €147,264,000. Not only would this be a win for the Department in that it would be following through on its policies and it would also involve a huge financial saving. I repeat my call to make proper funding available to allow elderly people to vacate acute hospitals and return to their homes with the necessary supports to enable people to remain in their homes.

The bottom line is that this service is not reaching the elderly people who need it. The Taoiseach, in replying to the first Dáil question I tabled since I was elected to this House, told me that extra investment would be made and that people would not be left without a home help service. The situation is now worse than it ever was. I know that for a fact. Any Deputy working in his or her constituency knows that is a fact. The situation has got far worse. Regardless of what level of investment the Government is making in the service, it is not reaching people on the ground.

I know an elderly gentleman in west Cork who is 86 years of age, who has worked all his life for this country and cannot get a home help service. He has been told by the HSE that it cannot provide a home help service delivered by its people and that it will arrange for a private company to provide the service. The private company phones his family every night to tell them that it will not be able to provide cover for this man the next day, yet the people providing the home help service in the area have told me that they are quite willing to provide that care. There is a problem with the delivery of the service and it needs to be resolved.

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