Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that there are legitimate reasons for some people leaving. This morning, however, 16 members contributed on the Order of Business and eight have already left.

Senators Horkan, Conway-Walsh and Gallagher raised the important issue of carers. The Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Jim Daly, the senior Minister, Deputy Harris, and the Government are committed to ensuring that the HSE will deliver its service plan commitments for 2019. We have more home help hours than ever and more people are availing of home help hours than ever before. We have a growing elderly population and that poses a significant challenge for us. People are living longer and their needs are becoming more complex. This year alone, an extra 800,000 home help hours will be used by the HSE. In the first quarter of this year, 4,411 more people commenced home help hour services. In the past four years, there has been an increase of €140 million in the budget to 246 million. In the 2019 HSE service plan, 18 million support hours are available and being availed of by 53,000 people. I accept that a need exists. As has been stated, people staying at home and living in their communities are not in hospital and, as a result, they do not prevent others from accessing beds. An intensive home care package is provided that is aimed at keeping people at home. The Minister of State, is working with the HSE and the Department of Health on developing a statutory home help support scheme, the aim of which will be to improve access to home care packages and services on an affordable and sustainable basis. I will have the Minister come to the House to debate the matter.

Senator Horkan referred to an article in The Irish Times. I have not seen it. Even when Fianna Fáil's great leader was the Minister with responsibility for health, the Department had a budget overrun every year. He ran out of the Department screaming, as the Senator knows quite well. Fianna Fáil let Mary Harney languish in the Department for almost all the remaining time of the-----