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

I thank the Regional Group for this timely motion. Home help is something every public representative is dealing with. On an hourly basis, there is someone ringing about home help. When people get elderly and have little problems, they want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. We should be doing a lot more to help these people stay in their homes and give them the home help they need.

There are desperate anomalies. In Kerry, there are people granted home help and being notified they will get it, yet the home help does not arrive because there are no home helps available to do the physical work. We must address that issue.

When we debated this issue previously, I ask about Ukrainian refugees, women and men, who should be trained up, especially those who speak English and have a car. I am sure they would want to work and could help.

We should be doing more to recruit people. Sadly, last year, people were recruited and trained but were not being called. People will not stay hanging around like that when they are looking for work after training and everything. It takes too long. I do not know where the knots are.

We have a situation where people are in hospitals and the hospital wants to get them out and get the bed free but there is no one to come at that moment to do the home help. It is a fierce worry for elderly people. The one thing they want is to stay in their homes for as long as they can. We are not doing enough to help them.

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