Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that both parties in government have been lobbied on this, but I ask the Minister of State to try to find some way of alleviating the difficulties to which I refer, perhaps in the context of the Finance Bill. When I met a man in his 80s in a local supermarket last Saturday, he had tears in his eyes as he told me he is now getting half an hour of home help each week, whereas he used to get five such sessions each week. It is absolutely criminal that some of our most vulnerable people - the frail and the elderly who rely heavily on home help at advanced stages in their lives - are being treated in such a manner. Can the Government find some way of making an allocation from a compassionate point of view? I appreciate that this is a matter for the HSE budget. I ask the Minister of State to talk to his colleagues so that some improvement can be made in this regard in the new year.