Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

They are very pedantic. I will get it right the next time. I commend them on the bulk of their motion but there are certain things with which I do not agree, though they are for another day. Having worked as a care assistant for the past 16 years of my life, and for five years as a home care worker before I came in here, I understand the vital importance of home care work, not only for the worker but for the patients and their families. Whether they are convalescing at a hospital from long-term illness or coming to the end of their life, it is vital to them.

Millions upon millions of hours - some 10 million - were cut from home care packages over the past ten years, by the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government and the Fine Gael-Labour Party Government. Fewer people get a home care package in 2015 than in 2008. A total of 2.24 million fewer hours were delivered and this has had a hugely detrimental effect on people's well-being.

I am surprised that nobody has pointed out that, at this moment, 75,000 people are trying to avail of home care packages but only 21,000 are actually availing of packages. That means a huge gap of 50,000 people. I personally know families in extremely difficult circumstances who would beg public health nurses and doctors for their loved ones to come back home but they cannot provide the service, which has a knock-on effect as these people do not want to be in hospital but want to be at home with their loved ones.

There are 50 for-profit home care providers and it is an extremely lucrative business. Most workers are paid between €9 and €11 per hour but the private company charges the HSE double that amount. It is very profitable but not efficient from the point of view of the taxpayer. There are many people who are now reaching an older age and who want to be cared for in their home environment rather than in a hospital and it is more cost-effective to do so. One does not want to depict a doomsday scenario of the health services because some amazing people work in the service, such as doctors, care assistants, the auxiliary staff and the office staff but there is a two-tier health care system and, like under apartheid, if one has money one can get the best but in the public health system one has to wait and sometimes to beg.

According to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Association, 526 patients are on trolleys today. People do not want to be outpatients or in hospitals but want to come home so we support this motion. Hopefully, it can be addressed in a fundamental way, unlike previously.

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