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

I am very glad to have the opportunity to speak on this important matter. When it comes to carers and acknowledging the work that they do, we should be willing to provide whatever facilities or help we can give them, whether it is medical cards or any kind of assistance. It would be wrong to speak on this important motion without acknowledging the work that is being done by our general practitioners throughout the country. In the county that I represent our local GPs play a vital role. As we are talking about the subject, I am very worried about the future of our GPs. In rural areas, many of them find it hard to keep their businesses going, even though they are so pivotal and important. From a monetary point of view, it is getting more difficult to run a business, which is what being a local GP is. It is getting more and more difficult with overheads, insurance and everything becoming so expensive. They are finding it very hard. I worked diligently to ensure that in places like Waterville and Sneem we had GPs to replace excellent people that had given a lifetime of dedication, which was important. I do not want to see any place with a GP service in the county that I represent lose that service.

Coming back to the carers, a colleague behind the Minister's back said correctly that being a carer is not a job, but a vocation. It is giving a service and saving the State an absolute fortune. If at all possible, the best place that our elderly people can be, whether they are our family, friends, relatives or neighbours, is at home, receiving the care that they require. In situations where people cannot stay at home, I also want to acknowledge the work that is done by our community hospitals and private nursing homes. Again, private nursing homes find it very difficult. They operate to the highest of standards, but the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, is a moveable feast. It raises the bar this high today and raises it that high the next day. It has certain rules today and a completely different set of rules some other time. We all accept and respect that we have to have standards, but HIQA is a runaway monster. It makes it up as it goes along. Complying with that can be extremely difficult.

We have seen this in the public service. We have built community hospitals to the highest of standards and there has been a delay in opening them. HIQA has refused to allow them to open, even though they have been built to its standards. The authority comes along, moves the goalposts and says that it wants the hospital management to do things differently, in a new building which would have been compliant months or a year or two beforehand. HIQA says that it is not compliant now. We actually have to change new hospitals and new buildings to comply with new HIQA regulations.

Coming back to the private nursing homes and the difficulties they have in running their business, I wish to acknowledge the excellent service they give and the excellent role that they play in our communities. This includes the employment they create and the care they give to elderly, vulnerable and sick people, keeping them as near as they can to being at home. Of course, I rightly acknowledge our carers and I hope to ensure that we help these people in every and any way we can in the every important work they do.

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