Home help shortages
Deputy Mattie McGrath describes chaotic home help allocation, with approved hours but no available carers for families in need. The Minister of State says the main problem is staffing, not funding, and points to recruitment efforts.
The home help system is chaotic. There are huge anomalies in it. The changes that are in it now are very disturbing. A couple of years ago, we were all here looking for extra home helps and extra hours and we could not get them, but now the system has changed it is a bit of a trick of the loop. One is being allocated the extra hours but one cannot get the home help people. The ones who are visiting are not allowed to work extra hours. I had a family from Cahir on to me this morning about their elderly mother. They are approved for extra hours but they cannot get them, yet the management will not allow the good people who are coming to provide home help do the extra hours. There are a lot of games going on. It is giving the optics that there is heaps of money, as with the Tánaiste's answer to Deputy Michael Collins. There is but when it comes down to reality, one gets approval and there is a sea change. They will approve you now in reasonable quick time but there is no one to do it and they will not allow the people who are doing it to do extra time. This pressure of having a half an hour or 25 minutes is not good enough.
Comment on this
As I rise to my feet today to answer the Deputy, I am aware that 56,000 people the length and breadth of the country are receiving home care supports. I thank the Government for providing me with a budget of €726 million this year so that people can age in place. It is important for people to receive home care, day care and meals on wheels so that they can live for as long as possible in their own homes.
There are some challenges. The Deputy is quite right. The issue is not funding. The issue is in relation to having staff to support us. I am delighted to announce that, of the 1,000 permits that were issued outside the EU last year, 450 workers have come in to support us delivering home care. They are very welcome.
Last year, we delivered 21.5 million home care hours, the highest ever in the history of the State. When I came into this role, it was 19 million hours. We are building week on week, month on month, but I accept there are challenges. If the Deputy wants to pass on that particular case to me, I will have it looked at.