Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will go first because I am probably closer to benefitting from the legislation than Deputy Devlin. I commend the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on this legislation, although not just this legislation but on her work over the last number of years as Opposition spokesperson on older people in pioneering this legislation and delivering it within ten months of the lifetime of the Government. I commend her persistence and commitment in a very challenging time to ensuring we will get there.

I have some concerns about the legislation, particularly where a direct successor may not be available to a person or may not be in a position to carry on the business. The Minister of State is taking those concerns on board, otherwise there would not be the same benefit for the legislation. I acknowledge her interaction around that issue.

I also commend her on the vaccine roll-out in nursing homes. It is very difficult to think back even a year ago, let alone last January and February, on the pressure and horrendous experiences that were seen daily in nursing homes. They are now in a much better place because of the vaccine programme, even though many people have lost their lives. Our thoughts are with their families. The vaccine programme and the roll-out in nursing homes, in particular, is a tribute to the Minister of State and her work. I commend her on that.

There is no doubt that despite its challenges, the fair deal scheme has given people many options and opportunities. I acknowledge the various offices around the country which run the scheme and their professionalism and fairness in dealing with it. It has given opportunities and options to families which may not otherwise have been there. It depends a lot on the private nursing home sector to make it functional and to give those options. I join with previous speakers in acknowledging the role of the private nursing home sector.

All nursing homes, public and private, play a very important role. They are all staffed by people who care deeply for those who live with them. In the last number of months, however, the private nursing homes sector has faced particular pressures. I hope that as we catch a breath at some stage in the coming months, we will reflect on the challenges facing the sector, particularly the owner-occupied and owner-managed parts of it, which have to deal with unequal funding from the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. They have to deal with the challenge of trying to keep staff in competition with the HSE, which can offer higher rates, or with other care companies. They are an important component and they need support. I know the Minister of State will try to level the playing pitch for them in view of that.

I want to come back to a point made by Deputy Moynihan, and Deputy Ó Cuív before him, about community generally. Nursing home care is an important part of community.

Care in the home is even more important and it should be facilitated and made easier where it can be done. We are lucky to have extraordinary people providing home help throughout the country. The role played by home help providers, carers and palliative care nurses, co-ordinated by an amazing team of public health nurses and district nurses, is vital. However, many families are left trying to put together the jigsaw of publicly funded supports while also trying to source private help. That puts a huge strain and burden on families and often on one family member in particular. It would be worthwhile to consider setting up a home care hub in each area that would assist families to identify people who provide home help and home care services. Families are told to do that online but it is hard to do so when people are working and trying to juggle many responsibilities. A home care hub in each locality would help to promote and encourage the concept of keeping people in the home.

To pick up on a point made by Deputy Michael Moynihan, it is important that sheltered housing schemes are not forgotten. As a huge investment goes into responding to the housing challenge, which needs to be done, we must keep in mind that older people may decide to stay in their community if there is sheltered housing available, along with the appropriate healthcare supports. For many older people, faith-based supports are important and they can be provided in a sheltered home care setting. That type of provision keeps communities alive. All over the country, local community organisations have developed sheltered housing that has enabled older people, in particular, to stay in their communities. Sheltered housing is often built near, or adjacent to, a community centre, where people can get meals, have interactions with neighbours and attend religious services. It is a model that keeps rural communities alive and allows individuals to stay among their own people rather than going into a nursing home as the first option. I hope the Minister of State will consider providing an increased investment in sheltered housing for older people in communities.

I join colleagues in paying tribute to everybody who has served on the front line over the past 14 months, particularly in the nursing home sector. It is extraordinary that just as the success of the vaccine programme had allowed us to begin to take a little breath, we got hit last Friday by the cyberattack on the health service. The service has, once again, shown an amazing capacity to respond quickly and flexibly and the sacrifices being asked of the staff this week are phenomenal. It is absolutely despicable that somebody would think that a health service is ripe to be attacked in this manner, that it could be subject to a ransom note and that the concerns, illnesses and lives of people are worth the ransom note. It is an absolutely sad indictment of our world that there are people who see an industry in that. It is an even sadder indictment that people see opportunities in it for legal challenges and promoting legal services when the focus should be on protecting the information that was compromised and the individuals affected. We saw during the week a rush to judgment in that regard. I wish the HSE and the Department of Health well in dealing with the issue.

The Ombudsman's report on the nursing home sector declared very clearly that younger people in nursing homes are being forgotten. That needs to be addressed. The nursing homes commission report last year laid out the future options for the sector. The lessons of the past 14 months in terms of the experience of nursing homes during the pandemic must be learned and changes enacted without delay. We cannot wait any longer. There must be supports and backup for owner-run nursing homes to enable them to rebuild their staff complement and give them a chance to take a break after a very intensive 14 months. Similarly, staff across our public home care sector will need breaks and time to take stock of what they have had to deal with for more than a year.

I ask the Minister of State, with her mental health hat on, to put in place a specific programme of mental health supports for nursing home staff and service providers throughout the country, as well as for nursing home residents, to help them come to terms with what they have witnessed and lived on a daily basis for the past 14 months. After the Covid pandemic, many nursing homes will find that the heart of their community has been taken away. Many of the residents who made up that heart and were part of their nursing home community for many years were taken by Covid. Staff and owners will need support to rebuild their communities and allow staff and residents to grieve, in the same way that communities all over the country, separate from nursing home settings, will need the same support. As the Minister of State begins the process in the next few weeks of planning for budget 2022, I ask that she focus in the mental health side of her brief on rebuilding communities and giving supports to communities to deal with the legacy of Covid.

Is Bille an-tábhachtach é seo mar déanann sé cúrsaí féaráilte le haghaidh feirmeoirí agus daoine le gnóthaí beaga. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht na hoibre atá déanta aici. Maith thú. Mar a dúirt sí, is tús maith leath na hoibre ach níl ann ach tús maith. It is a good start and I have absolutely no doubt she will finish the job of providing a much fairer deal, not just for those in nursing homes but for older people throughout the country.

See this speech in context