Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

In that regard, the Bill before the House can be deemed to be a step in the right direction. I am worried about much of the content of the legislation. I refer to some of the definitions in the Bill, for example. Above all, I am worried about what the philosophy underpinning this legislation means for the future provision of services for elderly people. It used to be said that "children should be seen and not heard", but that phrase has been removed from the lexicon, thankfully. Sadly, society now seems to have decided that the elderly should be neither seen nor heard. There is a view that the State should be satisfied as long as proper nursing home care is being provided and can be afforded. In other words, many people believe our only political and social aspiration for the elderly should be to ensure nursing home beds are available for them. That is not just inadequate but inappropriate and very sad. I see this legislation not as a major part of the jigsaw of measures that need to be put in place to assist our maturing citizens, but as a tiny part of the jigsaw.

We must recognise that the demographic profile of Irish society is of a greater number of elderly people. Many people will be concerned about long-term residential care. We have to put in place the supports and mechanisms they require. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure that residential nursing home care is not at the core of her thinking and philosophy. It should be the final part of the equation, when all other options have been ruled out. Over the past two years, this House has had a number of discussions on this issue on the Order of Business. As I see it, the strong view of all sides of the House is that we should ensure that suitable policies and procedures are in place to allow the maximum number of people to remain in their homes, with their families and in their communities. It would be interesting to survey those who are currently in nursing homes and long-stay institutions to see what they think of their present whereabouts. We should ascertain what alternatives they would like to have offered to them. I suggest that the majority of respondents would prefer to be cared for in their own communities.

I am a realist. As Senator Norris said, society has changed. The current economic and social conditions dictate that suitable long-stay facilities have to be made available for people whose families cannot provide for them. It is for that reason that there is a place on the Statute Book for legislation of this nature. We cannot ignore the fact that the majority of people would prefer to be looked after in their own homes, families and communities. It costs much more to provide public beds than it does to meet the meagre cost of the carer's allowance payment. Thousands of HSE staff work in public nursing homes and district hospitals. The number of people who work in the health sector in our communities - I refer to our hard-working district health nurses, for example - is much smaller. We need to re-examine that equation as a matter of urgency.

The former Minister for Social and Family Affairs, the late Séamus Brennan, had an outstanding vision for the future of this sector. He made tremendous strides when he reformed the carer's allowance system. He introduced the carer's benefit scheme. Some time ago, he gave me a strong commitment in this House that he was willing to reflect on the possibility of removing the means test for carer's allowance. I was hugely surprised and bitterly disappointed when the current Minister for Social and Family Affairs absolutely dismissed any prospect of a genuine relaxation of the rules in relation to carer's allowance and carer's benefit. I hope the Minister of State will discuss the need to re-examine those rules with the Minister, Deputy Hanafin, and her Cabinet colleagues. At a time when hundreds of thousands of people are, unfortunately, out of work, many people are willing to support and care for their relatives or neighbours, thereby allowing such people to remain in the community. If we were to help them to do so, that would be the answer to many people's prayers. We need a holistic debate on the much greater question of long-stay care.

At a time when many people are in nursing homes and many more are about to go into nursing homes, it is important that this Bill is before the House and that we are debating the need to put in place a financial system or package to provide for such people. While I did not hear the Minister of State's speech, I read it with great interest. I am glad that some of the anomalies in this legislation appear to have been tidied up during the Dáil debate. That is certainly welcome. As many people with a cottage or an acre of land were worried that the 5% annual charge might be imposed on them ad infinitum, it is right that a three-year cap has been put on the charge. I am sure that positive measure resulted from the debate in the other House. I hope this debate will lead to similar positive developments.

I acknowledge that this legislation is necessary because public or private nursing home beds are needed by many people. The nursing home system needs to be underpinned with a secure system of financial support. It is very important, in the interests of elderly people and their families, that the highest standards apply in our nursing homes.

I listened with interest to what Senator Norris said about the low standards in one or two nursing homes - I will not call them institutions. I accept that standards in the public system of nursing home care can sometimes be far from sufficient. One of society's strong aspirations must be to raise the bar in this respect. The decisions we take now on the future of elderly people will affect our lives as we get older. We need to make it clear that we are prepared to support our elderly people fully. We will do that as a gesture of thanks for what they have done for Irish society and as a marker for where we want society to go. I hope we can scrutinise the relevant sections of this Bill during the Committee Stage debate. I hope the Minister of State will look beyond the question of nursing home care and recognise and respect the fact that a much broader jigsaw of measures needs to be put in place to support our elderly people.