Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No Member will speak in this debate who is not in support of the provision of statutory home care as a right on an equal pegging with the provision of nursing home care. We have all dealt with many families who are seeking to get the right care package in place to ensure their loved one does not have to go into a nursing home any earlier than necessary. We need to ensure that what has been promised in regard to statutory home care provision is put in place as soon as possible.

I take this opportunity to raise once again what happened in Dealgan House, Dundalk, where at least 22 people died at the onset of the Covid pandemic. The families of those who died in that nursing home, along with many other families, are looking for a rights-based inquiry and, as the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, referred to, a mechanism to provide people with closure and justice. That remains to be done. We need an update on where we are at with a Covid inquiry. We thought there would be something up and running at this point.

In the context of rising levels of Covid infections at this time, it has been brought to my attention that there are cases of nursing home staff stopping relatives from visiting their loved ones. We all understand the need to ensure care and protection are an all-time priority but consideration should be given to something like a care partner scheme to facilitate, in such circumstances, nursing home residents being able to have visits from family members. It should be possible to maintain that connection by ensuring an adequate level of care around the use of personal protective equipment, etc., on a similar level to what is done by staff who work on the premises.

An issue that sometimes arises in acute hospitals is that there is almost a pressure applied to families to put their loved one in a nursing home. It has been mentioned by many other speakers that we need a holistic system that provides an adequate level of home care. There is no one in this Chamber who has not had an issue with adaptation grants, whether it is that they are taking too long to process or the thresholds are too low. We need to be able to deliver for people where there has been a change in their circumstances to enable their loved one to stay in their own home. I have worked with the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on delivering a solution in this regard. We need a better system that can deliver for people across the board. That is absolutely essential. I do not know how many times we have been waiting on the results of a review or report and have been repeatedly told it is with the Minister and will be published soon. Across the board, we need a holistic approach, with a set of tools we can provide to people. We must look after our citizens, particularly those who have already lived a full life, paid huge levels of tax and played a major role in building the State up to what it is today.

Regarding statutory home care, when we engage with stakeholders, they generally have a fairly good word for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, regarding her commitment to its delivery. However, they sometimes point out that there needs to be Government follow-through and that we are behind time when it comes to delivery. The question is when we will see the legal entitlement to home care delivered. The other question is how it will be done and the payment model that will be used. We need it to be done as soon as possible, while also dealing with whatever anomalies there are in regard to valuations and so on. We need it to happen as quickly as possible. Promises were made in the past. We thought the scheme was nearly there but it has not happened yet. There is an absolute onus on the Government to make sure it delivers on its commitments. We must ensure we look after people as best we can and, for those people it suits, provide adequate supports to enable them to live in their own home. Those supports are absolutely necessary.

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