Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State's response does not tally with the reports I am getting, some of which are first hand. It is very mean of any Government - in the past, I criticised my own party in government on many issues - to try to save money from the home help service because it provides value for money. As the Minister of State knows, in many instances, the only contact some people have with the outside world is the home help who comes in for one or two hours. Our citizens deserve that service and instead of cutting back in this area, money should be found somewhere else.

Today or yesterday a Government Senator made a very valid point that there have been cutbacks in front-line services, including an embargo on the recruitment of nurses, but apparently the number of administrative staff in the HSE has hardly been touched. The HSE is top heavy with administrative staff but there have been cuts to the number of nurses at the coalface, where we need them most, and home helps.

Will the Minister of State bring back the message to the Minister, Deputy Reilly, that what is happening on the ground is appalling, that there should be no cut backs in home help hours and that in the context of the few million euro he is saving, he is being penny wise but pound foolish because many people will end up in respite care but will not return home as there will be nobody to care for them. It will cost the State twenty times what it is currently costing to keep people at home.