Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of aspects to the question. My experience of the health service over the past 12 months is that there is crisis in many aspects of it, but one that always evades me is home care packages and what the Government is doing about them. There is also a discrepancy in how the packages are distributed. The figures show that there are 1,200 in parts of Dublin north-west alone and only somewhere in the region of 200 in north Cork. There is a huge discrepancy in how they are distributed. The one question I have for the Minister in the limited amount of time I have is whether his Department has assessed the home care packages and if he can comment on the value for money in keeping people out of residential nursing homes and in their own homes. From the layman's point of view, it would be good value for money from the Department's point of view and the State's point of view. Has the Minister looked at these figures in real terms? Can he confirm to the House that it makes sound economic sense from the State's point of view to have many more home care packages available than there has been heretofore?

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