Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be part of the group which brought this motion before the Chamber tonight. It is imperative that all of us, as elected Members, ensure that our elderly people are looked after properly and to try, as far as possible, to keep them in their own homes as long as we can. We all know that nursing homes give people great attention and great care. However, if one asks the residents in a nursing home who have their senses, they will inevitably say that they would love to go back to their homes if they were well enough. That is where they want to be.

We have to acknowledge the great efforts of the home help people and the great work which they do. These carers are the finest people in the world. The attention and care they give to the elderly is wonderful. The elderly people really appreciate them, but the problem is that they do not get enough time to spend with the patients. That is sad. I will give the Minister of State an example. There was a man named Tim. The Minister of State talks about minutes. Tim needed an extra quarter of an hour in the morning and the same in the evening for a second home help provider to come in and help the family member or the other home help person. He was refused that, but there was no problem in the world with getting him into a nursing home and getting the fair deal scheme to cover it even though the cost was much greater. It was the same person in either case, but that man was happier in his own home. Once he was helped out of bed, put sitting near the fire and had everything laid on for him, he would manage for the rest of the day. It is sad to think that we could not get the extra few minutes for him for whatever reason.

There is something wrong in Kerry. We do not seem to have enough funding. I will give the Minister of State an example of another woman. She was in Cork University Hospital. I have spoken about boundaries today. One of our parishes is divided between Cork and Kerry. Half of it is in Cork, half is in Kerry. The people in the hospital said that she would get 20 hours a week home help but when they found out that she lived in Kerry, they said she would only get ten. How could that be?

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