Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the support from all parties. We had six speakers from Fianna Fáil. I am not certain as to whether they are going to support the motion. I believe that they are; they just have not said so. I hope they will. We in Sinn Féin, and every other Deputy in this House, deal with the issues caused by the lack of home help support weekly if not daily. We know about it. We see it. We have constituents asking about it in our offices and our advice clinics. The Minister of State does as well. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath, stated, "The allocation of new hours will be based on clients' needs and the resources available." Which is it? Will it be based on clients' needs or on the resources available? Those two things are not compatible. If a client needs hours, he or she should get them, but if the resources are not provided, he or she will not. There is a contradiction in this. The Minister of State indicated that he absolutely supports the home help service but his actions do not support that. When he states that "The allocation of new hours will be based on clients’ needs and the resources available." we need to know which it is. He needs to be clear with people. There will be people at home watching this who are waiting on home help hours. There are people in hospitals who want to be at home. They do not want to be in hospital. They are in the most expensive bed and breakfast in the State.

Sinn Féin's motion this evening is about putting the home help service on a sustainable footing because given how the demographics in the country are going we know we will need more home helps and not less. The best way to deliver that is to make it attractive for people to work in that area, not to privatise it encouraging big global multinational corporations to chase a profit but to invest in directly employed and not-for-profit home helps which is what elderly people want. I represented home helps for years and contrary to what might have been said, I think I did a half-decent job. Their clients will say they want the person who is coming into their home to be paid a decent wage and to have decent terms and conditions.

The motion also refers to the elimination of any call below 30 minutes. I ask Members to imagine an elderly person in their home who needs assistance with washing, dressing and toileting. What can a home help do in 15 minutes? They certainly cannot give any dignity to that person. They certainly cannot give any comfort to them. They most definitely do not have the time for any companionship if they are only there for 15 minutes. It is not outrageous to ask the Government to make a statement on not supporting any call below 30 minutes. In times gone by home helps would not work for less than an hour but it is now down to 15 minutes, which is an insult. Fifteen minutes for people in their 70s and 80s who have worked all their lives and paid tax all their lives is utterly outrageous.

Sinn Féin believes the future for the home help service is in directly employed home helps and not-for-profit agencies where every shilling that is spent goes directly into home help provision. The Minister of State's co-payment idea introduces a profit motive. That money will go into the pockets of global multinational corporations and the people who will end up paying are the elderly, the infirm and the ones who want to stay in their homes. They deserve to stay in their homes and find dignity in remaining in their homes. If they are in their homes being adequately cared for, they can free up hospital beds. This evening we know that nearly 500 people are on hospital trolleys. We also know that people who are in beds in hospital could be brought home if they had the home help support.

It is a very simple motion. I urge the Minister of State to withdraw his amendment and support the motion.

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