Mary Ann O'Brien (Independent)

I would like to ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, why the State does not have the national budget for a paediatric home nursing care when it makes sense to care for children with life-limiting conditions at home and save millions of euro for the taxpayer by keeping such children out of hospital? Why are parents forced to ring Joe Duffy, as they did yesterday, and appear on "Prime Time", as they did some weeks ago, to share their stories about how they are on the brink of not coping with their sick children and their siblings and are in desperate need of help?

Investment in home nursing care saves money. The children, parents and siblings do better and the taxpayer does better. The Minister says he believes in community care, so why does he not have a budget for paediatric home nursing care. I also ask him to clarify that the new service level agreement he announced on "Prime Time" on 31 May between HSE and the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation did not contain any new funding for the foundation and was not new at all but was a document pending signature for months. Was it a PR stunt?

When will the Minister review the investment required by the Jack and Jill Children's Foundation in line with the recommendations of the Trinity report, There's No Place Like Home, published in February 2010 to increase State funding from €545,000 currently to €1.3 million to make it more sustainable and less reliant on mobile phone recycling and public donations to continue to exist? I remind the Minister that if Jack and Jill was to look after children up to the age of six years old, it could save the State a further €42 million per annum by keeping them out of hospital. The State will continue to benefit by saving €40 million every year by keeping the children currently supported by Jack and Jill warm and cosy at home rather than in hospital care which is nine times more expensive. We are not just talking about one charity, Jack and Jill. We need a national budget for paediatric nursing care. The average annual cost of hospital care is €147,000, which is nine times more expensive than the €16,000 cost of home care provision for a Jack and Jill baby.