Gino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

This was debated at length several weeks ago. The issue of the embargo on home help hours is not going away. The announcement by the HSE on the moratorium on additional hours until November will have a detrimental effect on home help services in the community. This is probably directly linked to the overspend in the health budget and the overspend on the national children's hospital. They are causing a chain reaction which has affected community home help hours.

I worked as a home care worker for ten years. During the last debate I spoke as a care worker about how vital the service is for the client, the family and all that entails. I referred to public health nurses, palliative care and end-of-life care. When somebody is quite ill or coming to the end of their life they want to be in the surroundings of their home. That is the future and that is what we need to do.

I wish to allude to the motion itself. It is a really good motion and points out that directly employed home help is more cost-effective than always looking to the private sector. The private sector has a large slice of this pie and it is very lucrative, even though the workers themselves are non-unionised and are sometimes not that well-paid compared to a directly employed worker. The HSE pays private operators an hourly rate which is almost twice what the workers get. With a directly employed carer the money goes to the worker rather than a private operator. I understand that the Minister of State is setting up a statutory scheme, which is welcome. However, the most controversial part of that is co-payment. We may not agree, but I think that will be quite controversial. Other Deputies have alluded to the waiting list of 6,000 people. I can guarantee that those 6,000 people will need home help provision and intervention. That could mean anything from 24-7 care at the top end to 20 hours or sometimes one or two hours a week. It is very important that we engage in these things.

I welcome the fact that there has been a 45% increase in the budget for home help hours over the last three years. To be non-partisan, that is really welcome. It is really important that the moratorium is lifted and the number of hours budgeted for increases. Primary care in the home is the future. There is no doubt about that. People want be cared for at home. That is better for the clients and for society as a whole.

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