Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is absolutely disgusting. My thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been involved, those who have been illegally adopted and those who have had their identities stolen from them. Can people imagine anything worse than having one's identity stolen?

I wish to speak about the situation in respect of home help and the fact that 6,450 people have been assessed and approved but they are still on the HSE's waiting list for basic home help services. We have all the words of how important it is for people to be cared for in their homes and home help, home care, carers and so on. However, we have 6,450 people assessed and approved but who are still waiting. I spoke to one of them even this morning, a person who has Parkinson's disease, who is 79 years old and who is being sent home from hospital to his wife, who has multiple conditions as well. We are leaving people in these situations and we decide to provide for a rainy day fund. It is a case of "Wow, aren't we good?". Instead of providing for a rainy day fund, my suggestion would be to use the money to get rid of that waiting list of 6,450 people. I asked many questions about home help services at this morning's meeting of the Joint Committee on Health but I got very few answers. Nothing has changed in the HSE when it comes to transparency, openness and accountability. Nothing will change unless we make it change and force such change to come about. I commend everyone involved in the cervical cancer rallies of women together outside the gates of Leinster House, in Castlebar and in the different communities throughout this country. They will come out and have their voices heard to bring about change.