John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We can all give the Minister of State stories of individual constituents looking for home help and not getting the required number of hours. One thing I find very difficult to explain to my constituents is that they will get a small package for five days in the week but not for weekends. For example, a 93 year old man in Listowel looking after his 90 year old wife who has dementia gets one and a half hours a day five days a week. The level of need on Saturdays and Sundays is exactly the same as it is on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. I do not understand why the local team deems it inappropriate to provide weekend support. We need to examine the matter. The needs of our elderly people are the same no matter what day of the week it is and home help support packages should be based on a seven-day week. That is just common sense.

I take this opportunity to again make the point, which I have made on many previous occasions, that when families look for home care support packages - these are rare and it is difficult to get the required number of hours - they are immediately directed by district nurses and community support teams to the fair deal scheme in order to see whether they might consider putting their relatives into full-time care that they really do not want to go into. The cost of the fair deal scheme is approximately four to five times that a home care support package. In financial terms, it makes more sense to keep elderly people where they want to be, which is at home and in their communities. The two budgets for the fair deal scheme and the home help scheme should be dealt with by the same office. Such a practical measure would save the State hundreds of thousands of euro and result in far better value for money. Will the Minister of State look at this suggestion because I cannot see any reason it cannot be done. In practical terms, it makes sense.

The real heroes in all of this are the carers who are at home 24-7 looking after their elderly parents or disabled brothers and sisters. They work 24-7 for approximately €250 a week. They also need to be supported and given the correct remuneration for doing a fantastic job and saving the State millions every year.

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