Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Labour Party on bringing forward this terrific motion and I am happy to support it. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has committed to delivering 22 million hours of home care support next year and that she has lauded that this will be the most ever delivered. The question is: will it be delivered? Will the fundamental issues around payment, social welfare payments as well, and also the treatment of these home care staff, be delivered. I meet with older people and their families throughout County Clare on a constant basis who tell me that, after fighting for approval, they still have not been able to get the hours that they have been approved for and there is no sign of getting them either.

The Minister of State is promising 22 million hours in the next year. She may as well have promised 1 billion hours because more than 3,000 newly approved applicants are waiting across the country.

The HSE only employs a quarter of the home support workers in the country and that overreliance on the private sector means the vast majority of home care support workers in the country are on less favourable terms. According to the Clare Public Participation Network anti-poverty report last year, only 4.4% of home care hours in Clare are delivered directly by the HSE. That compares with 49.6% in Limerick and 56% in north Tipperary-east Limerick. There is a huge disparity there and that needs to be addressed.

The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, mentioned difficulties in providing weekend hours in rural areas. That is because she gave HSE staff Monday to Friday contracts and the shortfall must be made up by the private sector, and that issue could have been forecasted.

Finally, on the point of delivery, I raised with her previously my constituent, Martin, who was stuck in a nursing home because his hours were redistributed when he went to hospital for a procedure. I am delighted to confirm that he is back home now for the past five weeks, but it took, in total, 12 months.

It is essential that the referendum on care happens before the Government runs out of road.

In Ireland, in 2023, I despair for people who have worked hard all of their lives, who now need support and who are now afraid to go into a hospital for a procedure, such as a hip or knee replacement, because they are afraid that they will lose their home care support.

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