Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

What is the Minister of State doing? What is going on on his watch? Home help allocations have been effectively frozen and, despite the Minister trying to spin it otherwise, home help hours have also been effectively frozen. Was this the decision of the Minister of State or was it the decision of a bureaucrat in the HSE, to which he did not object? The Minister of State has responsibility for older people but does he think there are many old or sick people, who are suffering and in need of care, who will agree with this policy? One would be hard put to find a half dozen ordinary people who would agree with it.

Is the Minister of State going to back down or is he going to be stubborn and stand over the policy being debated tonight? Is he going to defend the indefensible or will he back down? I call on him to back down on the freeze in home help allocations and hours. It is a disgraceful decision and if the Minister stands over it, he is a disgrace. He should back down as we need more home helps, not fewer. There are more than 6,000 people on waiting lists and there are delays to people being discharged from hospitals and nursing homes, which tells us we need more home helps and not fewer. The Sláintecare report, informed by a whole range of expert opinion, told us we needed more home helps and not fewer. The Minister needs to back down from this crazy policy.

I also wish to ask about plans to put this on a statutory footing. That is fine but the Minister told the Irish Examinerlast week that this would probably involve some form of co-payment. There has never been charge for the home help service and it needs to be kept free of charge. The Minister should take his hands off the home help service and remove the plans to bring in charges. If he tries to go down that road there will be a storm of opposition. He should report back to the Taoiseach and Ministers with this message.

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