Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My question is about the freezing of referrals for home help hours. I appeal to the Government to think about this. In a constituency such as Cork East there was no backlog or waiting list. However, if it is shut down for five months, in five months we will be back here, with the help of God, and we will be arguing about a major crisis and backlog because the Government will not keep the revolving door open. The elderly and the disabled, who are the most vulnerable, will be hit and we will have another crisis. I appeal to the Minister of State to tell the HSE not to freeze any new referrals because we risk the prospect of facing a major crisis.

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