Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Various representations have been made to me recently about the cut-back in the availability of home help. The people cannot understand this given that the Minister said in his Budget Statement that an extra €30 million has been allocated to the home help service, and 1.75 million extra hours, yet home help has been cut back.

In a recent survey 97% of those surveyed said they would like to continue to live in their own homes, in their own environment, for as long as possible, and home help assistants enable them to do that. I have been dealing with a particular case in my constituency since December. Three years ago an elderly Alzheimer's patient in north Connemara, whose son looked after her in her own home, had eight hours home help. Last October the home help was cut back to four hours. Since then I have been unable to have the four hours home help restored. People with Alzheimer's do not improve, rather they are inclined to get worse.

I wrote to the Health Service Executive western area and I was informed in a letter dated 16 December that there are some people in the Clonbur area who would work in the evenings, but as there is an embargo on recruitment the posts cannot be filled. As I was surprised to hear that, I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister on 25 January and the following is her reply.

My Department has not imposed limits on the recruitment of home help assistants. It is a matter for the Health Service Executive to determine the appropriate staffing mix. . .

I got back to my good friends in the HSE western area and they said that, of course, there is an embargo.

Irrespective of which Minister responds I do not want him or her to read out the prepared script. If that happens I will walk out. I want to know why, given that the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children has been allocated an extra €30 million in the budget and, according to her reply, is providing 1.75 million extra home help hours, the poor man in the Clonbur area cannot have the four hours home help service restored to him that he had last October.

To put the matter beyond all doubt, on 8 February 2006 I tabled three questions to the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children, in different formats, in case I was slipping up in any way, asking whether there was a cut-back in the number of home help assistants. She stated:

As I indicated to the Deputy in response to a previous question, the Department of Health and Children has allocated an additional €30 million to the home help service in 2006, which will allow for the development of the service. That funding will provide for an additional 1.75 million home help hours in 2006 and not 1.6 million, as I previously advised the Deputy [in December].

The number of hours is increasing but the four hours from which the man in question benefited cannot be restored. A message should be sent to the officials in the Health Service Executive western area stating the home help hours are being cut back and not being restored and that the Tánaiste is talking rubbish.

If we do not keep the elderly in their own communities for as long as possible, it will be a great loss to those communities and the elderly persons' families. The presence of grandparents among their grandchildren can be vital to the development of the latter. I know this because I have grandchildren.

We are doing a grave disservice to people in rural areas and elsewhere if we put the elderly into institutional care unnecessarily. This will happen in the case in question if the necessary home help hours are not restored. It is not too much to allocate to somebody the same number of home help hours he or she was entitled to last October. That was before the budget in which the imaginary €30 million was allocated, thereby increasing the home help hours by 1.75 million.

I have been told to ring various people about this issue. I rang a lady called Mo Flynn and she said it had nothing to do with her and transferred me to somebody else. Will the Minister of State tell the officials of the HSE western area that they have the authority to grant more home help hours? The man who is minding his mother in his own home in Clonbur has a lady available to work the extra four hours if they are restored. However, the HSE tells me there is an embargo on recruitment such that it cannot appoint anybody.

I ask the Minister of State not to read out a prepared script telling me the amount of money or hours allocated because I will walk out if he does so. All I want is for him to ring up the officials in the HSE and state there is no embargo on recruitment, restore the four hours' home help for the man in question and employ somebody to help his mother stay in her home for as long as possible rather than have her put into institutional care. The Minister of State, Deputy Treacy, will give him the names of the person dealing with the Connemara area and the person in charge of home help in the HSE.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Hear, hear.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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They cannot get the bed for him.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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They cannot, yet there are four or five beds empty, and six empty in Carraroe.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I am not sure the Deputy wants me to answer the question.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I do and will walk out if he reads——

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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If the Deputy wants to walk out, he may do so. That is his prerogative. We will all be walking out at some stage.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will wait and listen to what the Minister of State has to say.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I am delighted.

The policy of this Government regarding 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 carried out. We try to ensure independence for older people so they can live at home and to encourage and support the care of older people in their communities by family, neighbours and voluntary bodies, where possible. Clearly, therefore, the role of the home help service is vital to the implementation of this policy.

The aim of the home help service is to enable people who would otherwise require residential care to remain at home, where appropriate. It is recognised that the home help service is an essential support to family and informal carers.

In line with the Government's continued commitment to community support for older people, an additional €33 million was allocated in the budget for 2006 to the home help service. Some €30 million will be spent this year and €3 million in 2007. The additional investment will provide 1.75 million home help hours this year and is being implemented in a flexible way by the HSE.

The home help service is, by its nature, a flexible service that responds to service user needs. As a result, the level of service required in individual cases can fluctuate from time to time. I know Deputy McCormack said that, last October, the person in question was in receipt——

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will give him the information tomorrow.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Deputy to let me finish.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I will give him the information about the person tomorrow.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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The point I was making was that the service individuals require can change from time to time and therefore must be flexible. If the Deputy provides me with the precise details, I will certainly follow up the case with the HSE.

To ensure effective prioritisation of the service, assessments are undertaken in the main by locally based public health nurses. They are in the best position to do so. The service is targeted at those persons of high and medium dependency in accordance with their assessed needs.

The HSE is responsible for the operational management of the home help service nationally. It has advised the Department that there are no cutbacks in home help hours and that it is implementing the national roll-out of the additional €30 million allocated to the service for 2006. There is no embargo on the recruitment of staff in the health service.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There is.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Accordingly, public sector pay and employment policies do not prevent the executive from appointing home helps or any other grades to provide health and social services to the public. Pay and employment policies include the social partnership agreements, adherence to approved employment levels and the management of human resources, including staffing mix, in line with service needs and policies overall.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I am walking out in protest. I will have to talk to the Minister tomorrow.