Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment my colleague, Deputy Butler, on this very timely motion, particularly when we know there is a trolley crisis. As the Deputy outlined, people often find themselves on a trolley because home care packages and supports are not in place to allow their families to take them home. She also outlined the facts showing that it is three times cheaper to keep a person at home than for the State to take care of him or her in a nursing home. That makes the case in black and white.

In Cavan-Monaghan, there are 240 people on the waiting list for home care packages. As we know, this is one of the greatest crises for families whose older members depend on the support, assistance and care that enables them to stay in their own homes. I will cite two particular cases. All of us deal with a large number of these cases in our offices but these two cases are particularly heart-wrenching. One involves a gentleman in his 90s who was allocated a home care package last May. His wife, who is in her late 80s, spent 25 years of her working career as a carer for the HSE. While I am not saying she should have been shown a positive bias, one would assume that someone who has given her life to minding others would have been taken care of. However, the home care package was not provided until October, almost six months later. When I contacted the HSE about this particular case, it replied as follows: "Unfortunately as the home support service must work within an allocated budget, a prioritisation system is used to determine each client's clinical needs." This case involves someone in his 90s whose wife is in her 80s. The person who contacted me about it is their daughter who is young widow. She has one son to raise and depends on her job as a special needs assistant in a school. It was not an option for her to take time away from the school.

I support the motion. Anything the Minister of State can do to ensure there are more home care packages would be very welcome.

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