John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady. For months this side of the House has been seeking a debate on care of the elderly.

I will make a couple of specific points at the end of my contribution, but first I will speak about carers and the undervalued role they play in society. I echo Senator Mary White's comments on young carers and the lack of support available to those who look after elderly relatives. A few years ago a girl in my area won the young carer of the year award for looking after her grandfather who has since died. Many other young people do the same and do not receive recognition for their role.

As Senator Norris stated, because of the work they do carers save the State a considerable amount of money. They do not do it for the money, but because they are looking after someone they love such as a family member. The State should do everything in its power to ensure elderly or ill patients and family members who can be looked after at home stay there for as long as possible. This requires the provision of support for carers.

We have made significant advances in recent years, but it seems as if the Government is considering making cutbacks. The an bord snip report which has not been implemented proposed a number of serious cuts which would affect carers. If the Minister of State does anything in her position, she should ensure the cuts, including the half allowance and so on recommended by Mr. McCarthy's committee, do not take effect. She should safeguard what is in place and work as hard as she can to ensure this. Her heart is in the right place so far as supporting the services provided for society by carers is concerned.

I am involved with the carers association in Kilkenny. My mother has been a carer for most of her life. She has never qualified for carer's allowance, despite the fact she has looked after my elderly grand-aunt, my uncle and, before he died, my father. She now minds my nephew, my godson, who is severely autistic.

The former Minister, the late Seamus Brennan, was a hard-nosed politician, but he did a great deal to recognise the role played by carers and women, in particular, in the social welfare system. He fully supported the payment of dependent adult allowance to who did not qualify for an old age pension. He also pioneered the introduction of pensions for spouses of the self-employed which were threatened by another former Minister, Deputy Hanafin, but I am glad the current Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, recently stated they would not be abolished. Seamus Brennan is often overlooked in these debates, but he did a great deal of good work in this regard. While he was a combative politician, he had a good side. In my eight years in the House he was the most effective Minister with whom I had the pleasure of dealing.

The carers associations are looking for a number of measures, including a small increase in the number of hours carers are allowed to work outside their caring role. In their capacity as carers, most work much more than the number of hours in the average working week. It is good for them to be able to do other work, as stepping away from their difficult situation allows them to keep their minds in order. I support the request by the associations that the Government not treat the household benefits package as taxable income.

In recent weeks there has been a number of protests against the proposed cutbacks in respite services. Cutting the badly needed respite services for carers may result in a saving in the short term, but forcing people to place their loved ones in public or private institutions will cost the State much more in the long run.

The publication of the carers strategy has been delayed for a long time. Will the Government publish it as soon as possible?

I seek a debate on supported care homes and specifically on the Health Information and Quality Authority standards for nursing homes which are being applied to supported care homes which are not and never were intended to be nursing homes. They are to be found all over the country, but especially in County Kilkenny because Dr. Peter Birch who was Bishop of Ossory many years ago was a man ahead of his time and donated a great deal of church property to local parish communities to provide such facilities. Last Friday the Mount Carmel supported care home in Callan received a letter from HIQA indicating that the time available to subscribe to the standards was being reduced from three years to 12 months, which period will expire in one month's time when the home will face closure. It accommodates 20 people on a full-time basis, although they do not need full-time nursing care. Through supported living measures, they leave the premises during the day, go to the shops and meet their friends. They could not survive independently in the community, but they have a loving home in Mount Carmel and six or seven other facilities scattered throughout County Kilkenny. It is appalling that HIQA's standards will be used to close down such facilities or make them so expensive that most of their occupants will not be able to remain. If they become seriously ill, they will have to attend the acute services at St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny, a private nursing home or one of the public nursing homes in Kilkenny. However, they are not nursing home patients. While they are incapable of living independently, they do not require 24-hour nursing care.

I am appealing to the Minister of State on a personal and political level. I am not asking that there be no standards. Some of the scandals in nursing home provision show that there must be standards. Those who run homes, many of whom do so voluntarily, do not want a situation where there would be no standards either, but neither do they want nursing home standards to be applied to their facilities which are not and never were intended to be nursing homes.