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

A few days ago the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, said there are no cuts to the home help service and that it is in fact being expanded. Is he telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Let us look at some of the facts. It is a fact that the scheme is effectively being closed until November. The HSE has said so. I presume the Minister of State does not deny that. It is a fact that the list will be longer in November than it is today. There are 6,310 people on the waiting list at the moment; if the scheme is effectively closed for five months the numbers are bound to increase. That is a fact, and people will suffer as a result. The hours have effectively been frozen until November. As I understand it the hours can be increased in extreme cases and there is a little bit of leeway, but in general there is a clampdown. That is a fact; the HSE has said so. People will suffer as a result.

The increase in suffering will be paralleled by at least some increased costs. It costs €165 a week to provide a home care package. It costs more than €1,000 a week to keep someone in a nursing home bed and nearly €6,000 per week to keep someone in a hospital bed. The Taoiseach and the Minister have said that the saving is not as great as some people assume. That may be the case but the idea that no costs are involved has no basis in reality. Of course there will be more people in nursing homes and hospital beds as a result. Costs will increase. That is a fact.

The Department has been in correspondence with the HSE. Some of the correspondence was published in The Irish Times on Saturday. The HSE says that a significant amount of the €500 million its officials describe as "savings" is to come from the home help service. It was in the newspapers on Saturday. I presume the Minister of State does not deny that there has been correspondence between the HSE and the Department in relation to this.

Another fact is that the Minister is trying to kick-start a debate about a revamped scheme to be introduced in 2021, with co-payment as part of the equation. Co-payment is a nice way of saying that for the first time in the history of the State this Government will charge people for the home help service. The Minister is clearly under pressure to rein in the health budget. However instead of cutting back on profiteering in the health service, for example, by construction companies at the national children's hospital, he has picked a soft target and made cuts in the home help service. The Minister shows a soft face to the wealthy and powerful and a hard face to the old, the sick and the most vulnerable in society. That is a fact as well. The message from these benches is this; reverse the home help cuts and take on profiteering in the health service instead.

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