I thank the carers and the home helps who come into our homes and take such good care of our mothers, fathers and loved ones. Without them, quite frankly, I am not sure if I or my family could function properly day to day. That is my first thought on this Bill. Overall, the Bill is very positive. It is timely that the sector is regulated. I still see some gaps, however. First and foremost - I have heard my colleague speak about this - the time stops and gaps of half an hour, three quarters of an hour or an hour two or three times a day need to be looked at further and addressed. In rural areas, constituent after constituent comes to me to tell me that their mum or dad has been approved for a home care package, which is in place, yet they cannot find the staff. It seems that once the street lights finish, people do not want to travel further and further into the rural areas. One of the reasons for that could be the fact that many of these agencies are not paying mileage to their staff. As a result, it is a far more efficient use of their time to do three or four calls in Drogheda or Dundalk rather than spending 20 or 25 minutes travelling to Togher or Tallanstown to do one call for half an hour, only to come back into town to do the rest of the calls. That is an issue the length and breadth of the country, not just in County Louth. I wish to speak about the most important gap in the Bill. I am grateful that we have somebody who may call for half an hour two or three times a day but with the passage of time, some of our loved ones will need more care. We know that people thrive in their homes and are healthier for longer when they are able to stay in their homes, but the unfortunate reality is that the cost of getting somebody to stay in the home with their loved one and provide that care is way beyond the means of the vast majority of people. We have the fair deal scheme, which is very effective, but now we are seeing that people who do not necessarily have to go into a nursing home at a particular stage are now seeking to apply for the fair deal scheme and go into a nursing home because the alternative is not there. Two or three calls a day are no longer sufficient. The family cannot make up those gaps. Therefore, the alternative is to seek a place in the nursing home. I am looking for a statutory footing on which we would adopt a fair deal scheme to allow people to stay in their homes. It might seem complicated, but at the same time, I do not think it needs to be overly complicated. This is a scheme where I believe an entity like Revenue could be brought in. At the same time, we provide a value of the asset, which is the home, which evaluates the care, and we pay the nursing homes. If we come in and have an agency taking care of our parents or loved ones, we are invoicing them and we can upload it to Revenue, surely there is some way to make a scheme that is simple and effective for families so they are provided with care in their homes and can stay in their homes, hopefully to their very last breath? They would not go into nursing homes until the very last second. There is a practical side to this too, because in County Louth the nursing homes are full. The waiting lists are long. If people ring a nursing home today to look for a place for a loved one, the home will ask if they have started looking in County Meath or County Dublin because the waiting lists in some cases are closed. We are not addressing that issue because the demand is so strong. I believe we are handing over our care to too many private companies. We have to look at the community model once again. The issue, in essence, stems from the fact that if we give people the option to be able to stay in their home and use their asset to provide for the care in their home, we alleviate the pressure on the nursing homes and we guarantee the best type of care to people in our society.

Sentiment score: 0.32