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

I congratulate Deputy Jim Daly on his promotion and wish him well in the Department.

On care of the elderly, everybody is telling us that the demographics are changing and that the State needs to be ahead of the curve. When people seek additional home help hours and support within their communities, they have to dovetail with their families to ensure they can stay at home for as long as possible. By and large, when they go into a nursing home, they are fully covered under the fair deal scheme, which costs the State approximately €1,000 a week. There is still a huge challenge for everybody working with elderly people to secure half an hour or an hour of home help provision. The figures were debated recently in the House when we were told there had been no cut in the number of home help hours. The same number of hours is being provided this year as in 2015 and 2016, but the number of people who require this support has increased substantially because of demographic changes. From a constituency point of view, we find that we are constantly trying to make representations to secure additional help in order that families can work with the HSE to keep elderly people at home for much longer.

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