Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening to deal with this matter. I fully appreciate that there are lots of pressures on the Department of Health as it is an area on which I have focused since coming into the Oireachtas back in 2011. I also thank all of the Deputies who contributed to this debate. I very much appreciate that and I also thank my colleague, Deputy Higgins, for her support in working with me on the drafting of this Bill.

I wish to advise the Minister of State that I do not go away. This is the third Bill that I have instigated. I initiated a medical practitioner's (amendment) Bill relating to professional indemnity insurance for all doctors. When I came into the Oireachtas, that was not the law so I introduced a Private Members' Bill. That is now law, as a result of a Government subsequently bringing forward a Bill. The second one was missing persons legislation, the Civil Law (Presumption of Death) Bill which I was told could not be done. In fairness, I got the then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Flanagan, on board and that is now law.

I hope I will also be able to contribute to the implementation of legislation in this area.

My involvement with elderly care goes back to well before I came into this House in that I was involved in a legal challenge to the Department of Health in regard to the provision of nursing home care, which subsequently, as a result of that legal challenge, changed the whole process of how we provide nursing home care. Even though we sometimes think that when we are outside this House, we cannot bring about change, in fact, when we can use the courts system, we can force the change that is required and force proper structures to be set in place. I am delighted that, as a result of those legal challenges, proper structures were put in place.

I believe it is time to deal with this issue. As I said earlier, this is my third time bringing forward a Bill. While I fully accept there are other pressures on the Department, I believe that as a result of Covid, more than anything else, there is now an urgent need to deal with this whole area. The figures I produced earlier demonstrate there will be 338,000 people aged over 80 by 2036, which is only 16 years away, and 1 million people aged over 65 by 2030. Therefore, we need an increased level of home care available because an increasing number will be looking for that kind of support.

A lot of research has been done already. The Health Research Board did work in 2017 which looked at programmes in Scotland, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands. Quite a lot of research has been done in regard to what is in place in other countries, and we should use that without having to go down the road of doing further research, given the information is already set out quite clearly. Likewise, the Law Reform Commission report in 2011 was based on a huge amount of research which was set out quite clearly on the publication of that report. The groundwork is done. I have no problem working with the Minister of State to amend anything needed to deal with this area, but I believe it is important that we have the regulation in place.

We do not give enough recognition to informal carers, although I know we do not need legislation for them. The last CSO figures showed there were 195,000 people providing informal care in their own home. We need to acknowledge the work they are doing and how they are caring for someone in their home. They are doing this not for two or three hours a day, not for two or three days a week, not for two or three weeks a year, but 24-7, 365 days of the year. We need to acknowledge their contribution and the work they are doing.

It is also important that we acknowledge the work provided by carers employed either by the HSE or the private companies. While we might be critical of some of the private companies, they are providing a service where the statutory agencies are not able to provide it. In drafting legislation, we need to make sure we cover all the angles, whether the service is provided by the HSE or other State agencies, or by private companies.

I am determined that we will have legislation in this area before this Dáil is dissolved. This is crucial for the people who want care but we must also make sure that the appropriate level of care is provided. Coming from a legal background, one of the things that concerns me, and one of my colleagues referred to this during the debate, is the abuse of elderly people. I have seen it. We need to make sure we have all of the processes and procedures in place so this can be easily brought under control without someone suffering any loss. It is extremely important that we provide that. There were a number of reports recently in the newspapers, and the Irish Mail on Sundayrecently had a very disturbing story in regard to a person with a disability who was provided with care but that care fell totally short of what the person wanted, and it was clear there was also abuse. It is important, where members of the general public are concerned in any way about the care being provided, that they bring that information to the relevant authorities and make them aware of it. We all have a part to play. There is no point saying, “That is someone else's problem, not mine.” It is our problem. It is important that we make sure our elderly are protected at all stages in regard to financial matters and in regard to their care, upkeep and healthcare.

We need to move forward with this legislation. I fully accept the Minister of State requires time and I look forward to working with her. I want to make a contribution to this in the same way I have made a contribution to the other legislation I have been involved in. I hope that, by this time next year, we will have a clear programme in place for the legislation to go through and be enacted, and to have it fully operational.

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