Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome and support the Bill because for many, the fair deal scheme has not been fair or equal and the Bill finally provides recognition of that. We could go further and introduce a publicly funded residential care model because the Government is relying too heavily on the private sector to provide residential care.

Older people must be treated with dignity and respect and they must be confident they will get the care they deserve.

Statutory home care should be provided. Where possible, people should be supported to stay at home when they are able and where they want to be, but for many families because the support is not there, they have no option. That is something this Government needs to look at and put in place because if people want to they should have the right to stay at home with supports.

Five years ago, I asked the then Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Coveney, to meet with groups and to look at the possibility of renting out the homes of people who are on the fair deal scheme. This would provide a rental income for the people in the nursing homes. As far as I am aware and I stand to be corrected on this point, the HSE requires 80% of rental income for people in nursing homes. This is not viable for most families and where I live in Gurranabraher in Cork there are three houses within 100 yd of mine where people are in nursing homes and the houses are empty, with trip switches to turn the lights on at night. This is shocking because the people in the nursing homes could do with an income from these properties. There are thousands of families in Cork who are crying out for these beautiful homes.

We are in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history this State. Many promises were made that this Government will deliver on housing. As mentioned, I raised this issue with the then Minister, Deputy Coveney. Here we are now, three housing Ministers later, and the Government is still looking at this. The Minister of State needs to engage with Age Action Ireland to get its insight into rolling out a scheme like this. According to theIrish Examiner, there are 25,000 homes tied up in this scheme right across the State.

I will finish with the comment that people are also waiting too long to get into nursing homes in that it can be four to six weeks and perhaps longer. Many of these people who need a nursing home place have been in hospitals but because of issues they have to wait. There should be no waiting list for people who need to go into nursing homes. Places should be available. I ask that the Minister of State puts the supports in place to deliver on the fair deal scheme for everyone.

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