Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to his important Ministry. I have no doubt he will do an exceptionally good job.He is fiercely committed and applies himself to the challenges put in front of him.

I thank Fine Gael for using its Private Members' time to afford us an opportunity to discuss and debate care supports and enhanced provisions for services for older people. That is important. There are many asks in the motion. I am familiar with them, as Fine Gael Senators will be also, having prepared them. As the Leader said, all the suggestions, asks and proposals in the motion are in the programme for Government. Sadly, many of them were in the previous programme for Government but they were not delivered. We must move forward, but it is important to take time to look back at the previous two programmes for Government to see why these things did not progress. There is learning for us in that. I am not being critical as there may be very good reasons that they did not progress as fast as they should have. I ask the Minister of State to look at that.

I will deal with four specific issues relating to the asks set out in the motion. One refers to enhancing our network of day centres. Councillor Geraldine Donohue in Loughrea brought to my attention today that the Seven Springs purpose-built day centre in Loughrea has not returned to its pre-Covid opening hours and services. The service is being operated in a hotel. Taking this example as a single issue, will the Minister of State ask why this purpose-built day centre, which is a significant intervention, is not available to the people of Loughrea? I will send him the details. I wanted to flag this matter as this debate presents me with an opportunity to do so.

The motion refers to a fully funded carer's guarantee. I support that. I will touch on the fair deal scheme and how it relates to nursing homes because I have served two terms as a director of the National Treatment Purchase Fund. As such, I am fully up to speed regarding the difficulties. There are difficulties and unfair aspects of that which I will touch on later. The motion also refers to publishing the National Treatment Purchase Fund pricing review in early 2025. As that is a commitment in the programme for Government, I take it as a given, notwithstanding the motion. We should get ahead and do that, if possible.

Enabling people to age with confidence, security and dignity in their own homes and communities is clearly a policy of the Government which all of us in the House supports. It is important that we have a collaborative approach involving the Government, communities, the voluntary sector, healthcare providers and individuals to advance that policy. Supporting ageing in place remains a central focus of the Sláintecare health reform. Let us go back and look at Sláintecare and see how that dovetails with the issues presented here today.

Quality of life for older individuals is vitally important in assessing suitability for housing, physical and mental health services. Real opportunities for community and cultural participation are key dimensions for the well-being of older people.

I commend the former Fine Gael Member, Tánaiste, Minister and MEP, Frances Fitzgerald, who is now the chair of Home and Community Care Ireland. HCCI is, significantly, an all-Ireland body. All Members received a copy of a HCCI strategy titled Rising to the Challenge: Building Better Care, Stronger Communities. I emailed a copy of it to the Minister of State's office. I ask him to have regard to that. I wish Frances Fitzgerald every success in rolling out that strategy.

As a former member of the National Treatment Purchase Fund board, I understand the concerns of Nursing Homes Ireland. I welcome the Government's express commitment to work towards an equitable funding model for fair deal pricing, which remains outdated and deeply unfair. Since 2018, 77 nursing homes have closed, leading to the loss of 2,800 beds. This has added pressure to the acute hospital bed services. A reformed, equitable, transparent and sustainable funding model for nursing homes is essential to prevent further closures and ensure older people receive appropriate care for their specific needs This afternoon, Nursing Homes Ireland circulated a document providing key details of the fair deal's "inequities", as it describes them, and broken promises and notes the urgent need for funding and reform. I also sent a copy of that document to the Minister of State's office today. I ask that he look at it to see how we can work to progress the issues raised in it. The programme for Government includes a commitment to proceed to publish the figures for the National Treatment Purchase Fund. I ask for that to be fulfilled.

It is all very well supporting this important Private Members' motion, but the Minister of State will be judged on the delivery of the key aspects of his Ministry and the key aspects of this Private Members' business. I wish him well. It is important that we work. I ask the Minister of State to give a commitment that he will come back to this House within six months to give an update on progress on getting the initial stages of these proposals off the ground, working with all stakeholders.