Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I second the motion. Our major difficulty is that the Minister and the Department of Health and Children are on record as saying one thing while the HSE is saying another. This issue was raised by Deputy Twomey, the Fine Gael spokesperson on health, in an Oireachtas health committee last July at which I was present. The Tánaiste gave a clear commitment to clarify the point and get back to Deputy Twomey but she has failed to do so. I understand that even when challenged in the Dáil last week, she failed to answer the question. That immediately indicates that there is a problem. If the matter was as clear-cut as the Tánaiste maintained in July, why has it taken three months to even acknowledge there is a problem and clarify the point?

During the recent by-election in Kildare North, I met a lady involved in the home help service who was angry because her hours had been cut, exactly as outlined by Senator Bannon. I put down a parliamentary question to ascertain the Minister's position on it but the answer I got back indicated that the hours had not been cut and there was no change in the rates of pay, etc. Having regard to what happened in July, however, I am beginning to wonder who is telling the truth. That is the nub of this issue. Who is telling the truth? Who is in charge? Has the HSE now become the NRA? Is it now dictating policy? What is the role of the Minister for Health and Children? The Minister spent the past year avoiding the hard questions by saying she was only in the job less than a year but her tactic now is to blame the HSE. When asked what she believes are awkward questions, her reply is that it is not her responsibility but that of the HSE. The problem with that charade is that members of the public are suffering, in particular the elderly and those in need of the home help service. What is happening on the ground does not match the official version of events.

I met a lady lately who suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2001. Unfortunately, she suffered a second brain haemorrhage this year. Having fought her case we finally got her two hours of home help per week. The picture is not rosy. That lady has a young baby but all we managed to get for her was two hours service per week. I have no argument with the people in Kilkenny who were providing the service. They were providing the best service they could out of a small budget and with few resources but there is a problem centrally in that the Government is not allocating adequate funding.

The Government's record on the elderly is abysmal. I will arrange to table a motion at the Joint Committee on Health and Children next week calling on the Minister to immediately refund the elderly the nursing home charge overpayments. It is scandalous that the Government was finally forced to admit, after months of questions in the Dáil, that there was a problem with the charging of nursing home patients in public beds. It rushed emergency legislation through the Houses, the Supreme Court refused to accept it and the Government had to start from scratch again. Finally, when the Minister was forced to admit she had made a mistake, she then said she would pay back the elderly in her own time, and we are talking about payments being made in 2006. I look forward to the debate in the Joint Committee on Health and Children next week when we will hear, for the first time, the Government's real policy regarding the elderly. It is despicable that people who are nearing the end of their lives — some may only have a month or two to live — are being treated in that way. They should get immediate payment.

On the question of nursing home subventions, I became aware recently of a man who goes into a nursing home for night-time care only because he is being fed through a tube. He submitted his details and all he got was a €10 in subvention. Having worked all his life and paid his taxes, that is the way the State treated him. We are fighting that case tooth and nail. There is a problem for the elderly, not just in the area of home help but in all the other areas, and I am not convinced that the Government is willing to take responsibility for it and lead from the front.

Why did the Tánaiste not clarify the point made by Deputy Twomey last July that 2 million hours had been cut from the home help service? What is she hiding? Is she not aware of the real position, which is an even scarier thought? Does she not know the answer? If that is the case, who is running the Department of Health and Children? Professor Drumm is issuing policy guidelines every day, which makes us all wonder why we are here.

This motion calls for regulation of the working hours, pay and conditions of those involved in the home help service and is worthy of acceptance. These people are working for pittance yet they provide an invaluable service. Many thousands of families greatly appreciate the work they do, often at unsociable hours as Senator Bannon pointed out. The Government should acknowledge the role they play in society and take steps to immediately rectify the wrongdoing. It is despicable that three months later, the Houses of Parliament still cannot get straight answers to straight questions.