John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have raised this matter before. At the end of February there were 52,000 people in receipt of home support services but there were 6,000 people waiting for those services. These are people who are in hospital or who might have come home and who have been approved and it is causing considerable difficulties. I acknowledge the 52,000 figure is up on last year but my point is that the resources available are inadequate to meet the need. It is not just a problem in Kerry. All of us around the country are experiencing the same difficulty, in that the HSE is approving home support services but is not in a position to facilitate them. When this has been raised before, the Taoiseach comes back and says the allocation has been increased from last year. However, the allocation increase on last year is grossly insufficient to meet the current need.

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