John Whelan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to add my voice to the cross-party call by Senators Landy, Kelly and Ó Domhnaill with regard to home help services. This is not a party political issue and no one in the House would not be concerned about care of the elderly. I commend the Leader on the expeditious manner in which he facilitates debates on issues raised on the Order of Business and brings Ministers before the House. This prompt manner is most helpful and I am sure he will do the same with regard to home help. Home help service providers are the hardest working people in the health service and are probably among the lowest paid. They are the poor relations and Cinderellas of the health service. With reluctance I state they are being messed about. Home help providers have been before the Labour Relations Commission 14 times in recent months. Very few people do not know at the start of a week how many hours work they have that week. This has a very stressful and distressing effect on their clients, mostly elderly people but also those who are infirm or recovering from cancer. We have been misled, and I do not say this lightly, with regard to the restoration of hours and finance for this area. It is not the first time the HSE and the Department of Health have been disingenuous in this regard. They have been massaging the figures on waiting hours-----