Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)

In my area of the mid west and in County Kildare the scheme has proven to be very good. I cannot comment on County Wexford at this stage. However, significant funding has been invested and more than 11,000 people avail of the home care packages. The Minister, Deputy Mary Harney, announced the intention to set up more than 200 primary care teams. Professional medical colleagues of the Senator will be at the forefront of this initiative with other specialists and experts, such as physiotherapists and speech therapists, working with older people in local communities. We are working towards this objective. I am conscious we have not reached the objective yet and we must continue to bring people into the system. One should consider the €10 million allocated to my colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy John Moloney, to provide for services in speech therapy, physiotherapy and so on. We are working on a vision for the future and funding must be put in place to this end.