Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for older people to the House. I welcomed the creation of a Department with responsibility for older people. It was an issue I raised on many occasions with various Taoisigh in the other House because I believed the elderly faced a huge range of issues that needed to be brought together under one office holder. I realise the office is relatively new but I hope it will serve as a focal point for Government policy in respect of our growing elderly population.

Notwithstanding that preamble, I want to comment on the Minister of State's contribution and her proposals concerning the elderly. The fair deal legislation was published jointly by the Minister of State and the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Harney, some weeks ago. That legislation is something on which I, and many of my colleagues, have been requesting and seeking information in the past few months. I was disappointed to learn that the legislative timetable would seem to suggest the Bill will not be debated in the other House for some time and that it will be well into the future before it is enacted. I suggested to the Leader of the House that the Bill should be re-published as a Seanad Bill. It is not that we are idle in this House of the Oireachtas but the Seanad would be the ideal House in which to give that legislation the careful consideration it requires. I ask the Minister of State to take up that suggestion with the Minister for Health and Children because the quicker this legislation is brought before a House of the Oireachtas, debated in detail, amended where necessary and then enacted, the better. I would like the legislation debated in this House before Christmas if it is not possible to debate it in the other House.

Once the legislation comes up for debate it will provide much food for thought. I have had a quick glance at the Bill and the financial parameters it is putting in place will be welcomed by many and questioned by others. There is a whole ideology to take into account in regard to care of the elderly but the current structure of the subvention payments are not working. They may have been deemed to be of major help when they were introduced but now that the cost of nursing home care is significantly higher, a new framework is required. I am neither praising nor condemning the Bill because we need to have a full debate on it quickly.

I do not wish to bore the Minister of State or my colleagues but the issue of care of the elderly is something of deep concern to us all. We must never forget that care of the elderly must begin in the family and in the community. Maximum Government supports must be directed to families and communities because the majority of elderly people would wish to spend their golden years of retirement with their families and in their communities.

The outstanding Government scheme of the past 20 years has been the carer's allowance. We all complain about the income limits, the amount of payment, etc. and there is room for much improvement, but for every euro invested by this and previous Governments in the carer's allowance, the return has been tenfold. The carer's allowance has allowed many people remain in their home and in their community among their friends and families. Those people would be obliged otherwise to seek placement in nursing homes, be they public or private.

To the best of my knowledge the Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill has just been published but I appeal to the Minister to seek maximum progress, flexibility and income disregard in respect of the carer's allowance. We also could seek improvements in the carer's benefit scheme at a time when more people are losing their jobs. There are many people who may have been in full-time employment and many households are facing a new situation where two people have to work but some of those jobs are being shed. In many cases, with the help of a carer's allowance or carer's benefit payment, some of those people would be in a position to look after their elderly relatives in their homes and their communities. That is something to which we must genuinely aspire.

Ideology in terms of right or left has no place when we talk about care of the elderly, nursing homes or support for the elderly. It is not right or left but right or wrong. If we want to have matters correct in that regard, we must aspire to allowing the maximum number of people retire at home. That is not an impossible financial or political equation. It is a question of where we direct the maximum amount of resources.

We must continue to improve the carer's allowance scheme. The figures presented to me some years ago by the late Minister, Séamus Brennan, on the removal of the means test for the payment of the full carer's allowance to people providing full-time care to people in need of it were surprisingly modest. I ask the Minister of State to trawl through the records and update them because even in today's constrained financial times we should be able to progress the carer's allowance payments to a more rewarding level and thereby encourage more people to stay at home.

The carer's allowance, the carer's benefit, community care grants and home care packages, which I welcome although they are not as advanced as they should be, should be the primary aspect of what we aspire to do for the elderly. I welcomed earlier the publication of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme Bill. I recognise that there must be a nursing home side to the equation as well because not everybody will be fortunate enough to have the capacity to remain at home. From the sense of family, community and tradition, I ask the Minister of State to concentrate on care within the family and community.

Regulations for nursing homes are very important. These must be to the maximum degree from the perspective of ensuring people in nursing homes have not just every facility but all the rights and protections they require. There have been too many sad and scare stories of an unforgivable nature. The idea of people maximising profits at the expense of vulnerable elderly people is shocking and we must be careful to ensure maximum standards and regulations are in place. I am sure we will go into all of that in greater detail in the debate on the fair deal legislation and I will play my role in the debate on that.

The preference of the majority of elderly people is to receive the highest possible level of financial support to allow them to remain in their homes and communities. This dream can be realised if proper Government support is provided.