Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a vested interest in ensuring we have safeguards in place for older people. We are, thanks to advances in medicine and the tireless efforts of staff in the HSE, living a lot longer. We want to continue living in our own homes and our own communities. We want to be surrounded by siblings and grandchildren. That is the least anyone can aspire to in a modern and progressive Ireland.

There are challenges in home care, as many people have said. The biggest challenge is probably the delivery of the service in rural Ireland. It is a pronounced challenge. It is a lot easier to operate and deliver home care in a large urban setting where the travel time is less and it is easier to get staff. It is a defining challenge for us in this sector, and I see it in north Longford and Leitrim, an area Deputy Martin Kenny is familiar with. It is extremely hard for these service providers to get staff to do it. In many instances the staff are being rushed through. They come in and may be there for 20 minutes or a half hour and are then rushing to their next appointment. It is difficult and frustrating for the care recipient and is one of the greatest sources of angst. In many cases it does not allow them to build up a relationship. In many instances the only contact people in an isolated rural area have with the outside world is with the carer who comes for that half hour in the morning and hopefully later their meals on wheels as well. It is important and that is why the Minister of State's efforts in statutory home care are to be commended. We need safeguards in this scheme, and we also need a minimum standard of care that people can expect. It should not be a case that people should be happy with whatever they get. We have a large number of private operators, and it has to be said nobody set up a private operation because it was an altruistic endeavour. They are doing it because this is lucrative and there is a lot of money to be made in this area. We need to police it and ensure they are delivering the service we expect, but more important, the service elderly people deserve.

My colleagues also spoke about meals on wheels. It is a fantastic initiative and a great link with communities. In many instances it might be the only contact with the outside world. It is probably a damning indictment of rural Ireland that we have evolved to the point where your only contact is the van coming down the boreen with two people to deliver your dinner. In many respects we have to wonder whether the progress we have attained in this country is all it is cracked up to be when we see something like that. That is why it is so important to safeguard it. I commend the many people who volunteer to work in meals on wheels. These are people who do not just take on a delivery role; they are a point of contact with people. They talk to people and will do extra for them even though I am sure it is not part of their job description. They will take away a letter that needs to be delivered or drop a message into town for them. That is to be commended.

There is no doubt the Minister of State has made substantial progress in this area. As we come to the twilight hours of this Government, we need to say we did good work in the area of home care. It is far from finished and there is a lot to be done. One of the biggest challenges, and the one we need to crack, is the delivery of home care in rural Ireland because it is challenging at the moment.

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