John Kelly (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday Senator Michael D'Arcy referred to the answers Senators received when they raised matters on the Adjournment. Yesterday evening I received a written reply to a health related matter I had raised. I guarantee that Senators who were not present for last night's debate would be unable to work out what the motion was about if they read the reply. Worse still, an official from the Department of Health telephoned me before the discussion requesting that I be specific about the matter I had raised. I referred to two specific issues related to the manner in which guidelines for medical cards were being interpreted by the primary care reimbursement service. Neither of the issues I raised was referred to in the reply. I call on the Leader to arrange a meeting of the Whips on the issue. It is nonsensical and a waste of time for Senators to receive answers of this nature when they raise specific matters on the Adjournment.

I have made a proposal to the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, on the proposed cuts to home care services. If he wants to reduce funding for home help services by ¤8 million and cut home help hours by 600,000, he should open up the service to community employment schemes. Home helps are ordinary people, as are those experiencing long-term unemployment. One could create 30,000 jobs and provide 600,000 home help hours for ¤750,000. Under my proposal, the Minister would save ¤8 million without reducing home help hours. I call on the Leader to bring this proposal to the attention of the Minister and ask him to give it serious consideration.