Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the additional home help hours. We need more home help hours because people want to remain in their own homes, if they can, and be supported. We know that when people go into hospital care for a prolonged period, particularly older people, they lose confidence and find it hard to return home. They do not want to return to a home that has been empty for some months. They lose their daily contacts and routine and feel afraid. We must provide proper support to people so they can remain in their communities and I do not mean just a few hours. I mean comprehensive hours that support a person's specific medical needs while he or she remains at home.

The final issue I raise is not directly related to health. I am acutely aware of the enormous landbank and assets of the HSE and other State health services that lie idle up and down this country. For the life of me, I cannot understand why there is no comprehensive inventory of these lands. If lands are surplus to requirement, they should be sold and ring-fenced for health services. We have institutional hospital lands that are worth billions of euro. The Land Development Agency has a role to play in all of this and there is a general view on how we can deal with the issue. We must also consider the potential to use the moneys outstanding from the religious orders under the national redress scheme. Many of these order were involved in the provision of health services. Can they transfer lands or assets to support health? We must focus on identifying the landbanks owned by the health services in order that they can be disposed of, where not required, specifically with a view to ring-fencing the income for reinvestment in essential health services.