Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I call on all the people who have any knowledge of the disappearance and murder of that young boy in Drogheda to co-operate fully with the Garda. It is very important. What we have been told today is shocking and traumatic and everybody who can help should.

I welcome this budget. There are many important things in it, which I welcome. In particular, I will talk about older people. Being in that cohort myself, I am probably more aware of the issues that arise among people who I know very well. I particularly welcome the increase in the old age pension and indeed social welfare benefits generally of €12 per week. The €41 increase in weekly payments to pensioners over the last number of budgets shows that we are putting older people at the heart of our social welfare system and improving their facility and capacity to live independently.

The new companion pass under the free travel scheme is welcome. I hope it is not abused and that people are not put in the difficult position where they are forced to travel. The Minister of State knows what I am talking about. They should be registered in advance in some way. Obviously if they are a member of a family or such it is a different thing. You do not want to make it too difficult. It is wonderful that older people can travel with a person of their choice freely and easily because they would not be able to go to hospital or the shop, or to do many things without it. We need to keep an eye on how it works.

The fuel allowance scheme is welcome. It needs to go further. The cost-of-living lump sum payment for all households getting free fuel is also welcome. No doubt the double bonus in November and at Christmas will be welcome. Many good things are happening here but there are many more things that we need to do. This debate is about the money that has been allocated in general and how it can or should be spent and what policies should, could and do arise. To be clear, I particularly welcome the significant increase the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, has achieved in respect of the older people's budget. It is now almost €3 billion per annum. She has achieved €120 million more for home support services. She reckons that we will have 24 million home support hours for almost 60,000 people in 2025. That is important. She emphasised dementia and dementia care. The ring-fencing of 20% of new home support hours for dementia is welcome. They are all the good things in the budget, which I clearly support, but the way forward is clear.

The Central Statistics Office's projections for the over-65 population in the future state that at present, there are 745,000 in our State who are over 65, that by 2030, more than 1 million will be in that age cohort and that it will reach 2 million by 2057. Huge changes are coming. People are living longer and healthier. This budget improves the lot of pensioners and plans more, which is all welcome, but I do not believe it goes far enough. Ageing in place and independent living are critical and key to the policies in the future. Even with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler's, excellent work, we still do not have, speaking as a Government TD, a statutory home care scheme which was promised in 2016. It is still not there after being promised in 2016. In the Minister of State's reply, will he state what progress is being made on that? Of course, I welcome the commission on older people which is being established and is important. Its absence is not good enough.

The other issue which I think is important concerns the conditions of employment and training for home care assistants. It should be a career, not a low-paid job as it presently is. We need to make sure that people who are involved in home care are properly and appropriately paid, have stability in their work lives and have appropriate remuneration. The career paths for further training and career progress are essential. We have to stop this low pay, poor conditions and significant stress. It is entirely unacceptable.

We also need to focus on health and social care. We should be preventive, emphasise self-reliance, re-enable old people to live longer at home and focus on home and community-based care over hospital care. We need a long-term fund for older people in order that their needs can be met. It needs to be planned over people's working lives so that, no matter who you are, if you need home care, you get it and it is free at the point of delivery. Those are some of the big things we need to do.

The last point I want to make is important. A total of 9,559 people have died from Covid, which started over four years ago. Those 9,559 lives have been lost. A total of 89% of those people were aged over 65. That is a significant rate of attrition among other people. One thing that is absent so far and a question to which I would like an answer is for the Minister for Finance. As I appreciate he is not here, perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, could facilitate an answer. What is happening with the promised inquiry into Covid-19 in Ireland? There is very little time left in this Government. We all know the race is nearly run and the curtains are coming down on it. Hopefully the Minister of State will be able to tell me that inquiry will be set up and that he can publish the terms of reference. The Government has been working on this for four years. It is not good enough and not acceptable. I challenge the Minister of State and this Government to have that inquiry and announce the terms of reference and get it done, because older people have suffered disproportionately as a result of this illness, which obviously nobody expected, but there will be further pandemics. If we have not learned the lessons of the Covid pandemic and if we have not provided the money in our budget to look at these issues objectively and fairly, but in great detail, we are not doing our job.

Finally, there is an urgent need for the inquiry into Dealgan House separately. There was an appalling loss of life there. I am shocked and appalled by the Minister for Health's lack of interest in coming forward on these issues. He avoids it time and time again. The time is up for him but it is not up for the people who died and who are suffering, who will protest the absence of action on this outside this House tomorrow. I say that respectfully to the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless. I know he is not the Minister for Health and he is not sitting at the Cabinet table. I am not either but this Government must finish its job and has not done so.

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