Noel Rock (Dublin North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the House that I will try to speak for less than ten minutes to give everyone a say on this most important matter. As Deputies Calleary and Rabbitte have outlined, Deputies are often the first port of call for issues relating to home care and home help. We often bear the brunt of the frustrations of many people who are aggrieved that the resources that are allocated and the systems that are put in place do not match the needs and wants of our most vulnerable citizens. I welcome the outline of the Private Members' Bill that has been proposed by Deputy O'Dea. I believe this Bill goes in a positive direction and allows for a holistic and cohesive approach to this long-running problem. Deputy Calleary mentioned that this has been a problem throughout his ten years in this House.

As the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, has said, the Government's aim is to promote care in the community for older people so that they can continue to live in their own homes for as long as possible. This is a natural ambition and a laudable aim. I believe in the Minister of State's commitment and in her dedication to achieving this goal in the shortest possible timeframe. She has not flippantly asked for the Second Reading of this Bill to be delayed for an additional six months. She has made that request as part of a cohesive and holistic plan to ensure the systems, the architecture and the framework are in place to ensure the ambitions outlined in this Bill can be achieved in an effective way. I think that laudable ambition is worth restating.

The current level of funding of home care services is €370 million per annum. This will be expanded in 2017 with the aims of allowing people to continue to live in their own homes, freeing up hospital beds and allowing older people to be discharged from hospitals with support and greater peace of mind. The HSE's national service plan for 2017 provides for higher targets than previously, including the provision of 10.57 million home help hours to support approximately 49,000 people. I appreciate that this is too few. I accept that more can be done and that additional supports are required.

Deputy Anne Rabbitte is right to outline the commitments in our manifesto in this regard. We hope to achieve as many of these undertakings as possible and give the sector the fullest possible support. We have given a commitment to provide 16,750 home care packages under the HSE's national service plan for 2017, as well as 190 intensive home care packages for clients with complex needs. In addition, there are 1,918 short-stay beds in public residential care facilities. These provisions amount to a cohesive package, but I agree more can and must be done.

I welcome Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin's support for the Government's amendment which proposes a six-month timeframe to put the required framework and architecture in place. Everybody in the House is coming at the issue from the same angle of concern for the issues that affect older people. We can work together on a cross-party basis to achieve the objective laid out by Deputy Willie O'Dea in his Bill, but it must be done within the framework the Minister of State, Deputy Helen McEntee, has set out. The public consultation aspect is important, as there are many voices, both inside and outside this Chamber, that need to be heard. I join colleagues in welcoming Mr. Brendan Courtney to the Chamber and commending him on his documentary, "We Need to Talk About Dad". That programme represented public service broadcasting in its truest format and served to open people's eyes and minds to the issues around care of the elderly. It certainly resonated with me and many of my constituents. I support the proposal that the Private Members' Bill be given a Second Reading in six months time when the preparatory work needed to develop proposals for a statutory home care package, including appropriate regulatory provision, has been advanced. The Minister of State has emphasised that we all want the same outcome, namely, an affordable and sustainable home care scheme for all. We must all work together to achieve it.

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