Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get the opportunity to talk on this important topic. As I have said before, if we are to be relevant at all, we must seek to do our best for vulnerable people, young and old. I will start with the old. Home help hours have been left very short of funding in Kerry. It seems to be a battle to get half an hour or an extra quarter of an hour for older people. I am aware of one 83 year old women whose home help application was shot down recently. She had been asked if she can get out of bed by herself and the poor woman was honest when she said she could but that there were a lot of other things she could not do. Her application for home help was shot down. Home carers have been totally forgotten about. I know of one man who has been minding his sister for the past 17 or 18 years. It is 24-7 care, for which he gets €219. He is rightfully complaining that he cannot stir or go anywhere. He is doing a massive job in minding his sister. No other person could or would do it. This man does not even know if he is putting up stamps for the contributory pension. He just does not know.

I turn now to the issue of nursing homes, which I have raised before. I am very concerned that family members still cannot go into nursing homes without savage restrictions. They can barely get as far as the door or must talk through the window. This is not satisfactory. I am aware of one case where an elderly man of 90 went to see his wife in the district hospital. He had to talk to his wife in through the window. This is not good enough. There must be some way it could be done better. These older people will only confide their needs with family members. This must be addressed. We have seen what happened in the case up the country of the poor man who was neglected and died with maggots in him. The fair deal scheme has to change in the way it is brought forward. The family farm cannot be assessed; yes, the residential house but not the family farm.

I cite the case of Ronan Foley who is still in pain, and all the other people in pain who are waiting for cancer treatment or who have bowel problems or need hip replacements. We still have to take people up to Belfast for cataract procedures. One woman was told recently that she would be waiting four years to get her cataracts removed in Cork. This is not good enough.

I must say to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, that I believe he is going to lose the battle with Covid-19, given what he has done in opening up travel. Should the Minister jeopardise children's chances of going back to school in September, he will pay a very high price. It does not make sense to me that people are allowed out on foreign travel to green list countries. What about the people they will meet there who have come from other places that have a strong showing of the virus? If they meet up, then people can bring back the virus here. Consider the poor man who wants to have a pint in his local village. He will never stir because it is said he is going to be the cause of increasing the virus and would cause us to lose control of it. I believe the Government has lost control with what it has done. I hope I am wrong. I believe the Government has lost considering what it has done to allow this foreign travel. The Government is beholden to the airlines and the likes of Michael O'Leary. We appreciate them in other ways but not for putting pressure on to open up the foreign travel when we are not cleared here.

I put it to the Minister for Health that people have been waiting here for months for their procedures and it looks as though they will be waiting longer. The Minister must do something about that. The previous speaker said that operations could be done on Sundays as well as on weekdays. The Minister must remember that people get sick on Fridays and on Saturdays and then they must wait until Monday for consultants to come in. That day is gone. The Minister, Deputy Donnelly, must see that it is gone. People cannot organise when they will be sick. It is not fair to do this to them. Many of them are lying there in pain while such and such a consultant will not be in until Monday morning or maybe Monday evening. It is not good enough. The Minister must deal with that. They can do it in the North of Ireland and we can see them doing it on Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings. They are working around the clock and making use of the gear they have to ensure people are seen. The Minister will have to ensure this happens down here in the Twenty-six Counties.

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