Nicky McFadden (Fine Gael)

I warmly welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Hoctor, to the House. It is good to see her again. The last time I met her was in Mullingar. I agree with Senator Glynn about the closure of day care centres. The centres in Athlone and Longford are both affected in the same way. I welcome the intervention for St. Mary's day care centre in Mullingar, which was closed for two weeks. That is two weeks too long, however, as Senator Glynn said. The centre should be revived and should not be closed at any time during the year.

Home care packages should be re-examined for those who are leaving acute hospitals. Very few drop-down beds are available so home care packages should be put in place for people returning home alone who may have little support in their community. I am aware of one man who suffered a stroke and returned home even though there is no support for him there. He has a very good family, but the public health nurse is put to the pin of her collar to assist and very little home help is available for the individual concerned. The burden is falling on his wife who is also elderly. If we are to keep such people out of nursing homes and hospitals, it is incumbent on us as legislators to provide proper home care packages. I am referring to physiotherapy, speech therapy and even somebody to spend time with an old person to give the carer a break.

The budget for the carers' association in County Westmeath has been completely spent and it is no longer accepting any new applications for carers, which is a terrible situation. If we are trying to sort out our acute hospitals and keep them free of elderly patients, we should put home care packages in place for them.

I also wish to raise the issue of fuel poverty. Last week we had freezing weather and on one night the temperature fell to 4° Celsius. Fuel allowances are very welcome but they are cut off from April to October. Older people should be able to accumulate fuel allowances to use them in cold weather. The minimum temperature for older people to live in is 16° Celsius, otherwise they are at risk of hypothermia and invariably end up suffering from pneumonia and being hospitalised.