Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like several of my colleagues I would like to raise the crisis in the home care sector which is affecting the most vulnerable in our society. More than 6,000 people are awaiting funding for home care packages in Ireland today. In my own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan more than 300 people are waiting on home care packages. People are assessed and approved but the funding that would allow the service to take place is not there. In fact, funding for new home care packages in my area has been completely frozen since February.

The State is forcing people into nursing homes and acute hospitals and delaying discharges from acute hospitals. I am not over-egging it by saying that what is going on here is cruelty to our elderly and their family members. It makes no economic sense whatsoever for the State not to allocate funding to home care packages. As Members know, it costs between €1,000 and €1,200 to keep someone in a nursing home for one week. Some €100 would keep a person in his or her home with home care packages. It costs €862 to keep someone in an acute hospital for one day. That is the equivalent of 60 hours of home care packages. Clearly we have a crisis in my particular part of the world. We need the funding which has been frozen to be allocated to that sector immediately. I ask for the Minister to come into the House at the earliest opportunity so that we can debate this very important issue.