Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for her response and I appreciate that this is not her area. I am disappointed with the content of the response, however. There is clearly little comfort here for the more than 300 people waiting on home care packages in Monaghan and Cavan, and there is little comfort for their families as well. People are saying to me that we can spend billions building hospitals and we can spend billions on broadband, but when it comes to basic care, namely, looking after our elderly, we are selling them short. I appeal again for additional funding. We are talking about small amounts here and it could take as little as €100 per week to make sure that someone had a basic home care package to remain in their home. When that is compared with €1,000 or €1,200 to stay in a nursing home, or worse still to end up in an acute hospital setting, it does not make economic sense to go down the road we are travelling. I appeal again for Government to allocate more funding to the people who are waiting and suffering while they are waiting on this home care package to be provided.