Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Power, and hope he will have a favourable reply for me.

Will the Minister of State explain to me and the people of County Kerry the reason the number of home help hours in County Kerry has been reduced by more than 100,000 in the space of just two years? Figures the Labour Party recently obtained from the Department of Health and Children show that in 2002 there were 789,011 hours of home help provided to people in County Kerry. In 2004, that figure dropped to just 683,296, a drop of 105,715 hours in two years. Does the Minister of State realise the enormous value of 105,000 hours of home help to people in County Kerry? Home help is probably the most valuable social health service available to an elderly, infirm or housebound person who wants to remain at home with dignity but needs a little care and assistance, usually daily.

We have heard much from the Minister for Health and Children about her desire to see the elderly and the incapacitated cared for at home and kept out of long-stay institutions where possible. The Minister and the Government have emphasised the need for greater investment in home care to enable people to live at home with dignity and to free up long-stay institution places and hospital beds.

I have often spoken in this House about the lack of funding for the Cúram home care grant for people in County Kerry. Successful applicants are being denied the grant because funding has expired. The cases and figures I am putting on the record of the House give the lie to the Government commitment of investment in home-based care. How can the Government say it is investing in home care when it has cut by more than 100,000 the number of hours of home help provided in County Kerry over the past two years?

Let me explain to the Minister of State the reality locally of these kinds of cutbacks. I spoke to a constituent of mine recently whose home help told her that she could not stay and chat any more as she had only so many hours to do her chores for the woman concerned. She had to get in and out of the house as quickly as possible because of her set quota of home help hours. This elderly woman was also told by her home help that she would wash her clothes, but not those of her husband because he was not the person in receipt of home help. The home help sorted the man's from the woman's clothes. What kind of society is it where this happens? Is the Government willing to stand over that kind of a system?

One of the most important roles of the home help service is to provide a level of social interaction to the client who may often not see another human being from one end of the week to the other. Now it seems that thanks to the cutbacks, home helps are only in a position to do the basic household chores and are gone out the door shortly after they arrive. I have heard the Minister for Health and Children persistently deny that the Government is cutting back on home help and insist it is investing more money. It is true there may be more investment but it goes mainly towards increased wages for home helps, and rightly so. However, thousands of people are losing out on the hours of home help they receive because of cutbacks in the Department.

I appeal to the Minister to stop cutting back on what is arguably the best and most valuable social health service available to people who are living at home but not in a position to do some of their household chores. I ask her to give a commitment to the House that the hours lost, particularly in County Kerry, will be restored.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the policy of the Department of Health and Children on the development and delivery of services for older people is to maintain them in dignity and independence at home for as long as possible in accordance with their wishes, as expressed in many research studies. It aims to restore to independence at home those older people who become ill or dependent and to encourage and support the care of older people in their community by family, neighbours and voluntary bodies. The role of the home help service is vital to the implementation of this policy.

Following the publication in 1998 of the report entitled The Future Organisation of the Home Help Service in Ireland by the National Council on Ageing and Older People, I am pleased to say that there has been a major step forward in the implementation of the home help scheme from 1999 onwards with the service being provided to an increasing number of older people.

The aim of the home help service is to enable people to remain at home, where appropriate, who would otherwise need to be cared for in residential care. It is recognised that the service is an essential support to family and informal carers. The HSE southern area has advised that the total number of home help hours provided in Kerry in recent years is as follows. In 2002 some 789,011 hours were provided. In 2003, the hours provided came to 701,216. In 2004, some 683,296 hours were provided and the projected hours for 2005 come to 720,000 hours.

Breeda Moynihan-Cronin (Kerry South, Labour)
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The hours have been cut back. This is now November 2005.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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Allow the Minister of State to proceed.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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It is understood that the home help hours figure for 2001 was similar to that of 2003. However, the total number of home help hours provided in 2002 included once-off hours, arising from the national home help agreement 2000, for annual leave and training and other elements of the service relating to the agreement. Therefore, the 2002 figures reflect both the core service hours for that year and the additional once-off arrears relating to previous years. There have been significant increases in the investment in the home help service since 2002. Some €95.7 million was spent on the service in that year and it is estimated that €120 million will be spent this year. That represents an increase of 25%. As the home help service is a flexible service that responds to clients' needs, the level of service required in individual cases fluctuates from time to time. The service is targeted at high and medium dependency clients, in accordance with their assessed needs, to ensure that an effective prioritisation of the service assessments is undertaken at local level and carried out in all cases by the HSE's public health nursing services.

I am aware that Deputy Moynihan-Cronin has taken a particular interest in this matter. I agree that the home help service has been a wonderful success and has brought great benefits to those who are targeted by it. Those involved in the service appreciate what is being done. The jobs that are done might be quite small in some cases, but small things make a great difference to the quality of life of the people who receive them. As I have explained, the Government has increased its investment in the home help service. All the studies show that people are much happier in their own homes. The home help service allows many men and women to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. It becomes impossible for them to stay in their homes in some cases, unfortunately, and they have to move on to long-term care. Our experience has taught us that the home help service works.

The Government will continue to support and expand the scheme, which offers exceptionally good value for money. Not only does the service benefit older people and carers, but it also solves a number of problems in our hospitals, for example by freeing up beds. The Government appreciates the participation of so many people in the scheme, which is working well. It intends to continue to develop the scheme by investing more money in it.