The government have failed to meet the demand for home help hours. In Mayo, there there are 343 people on the waiting list.
Fine Gael tried to pull a fast one in Budget 2020 by making out the provision of one-million hours of home help would clear the whole waiting list.
I highlighted this in my budget speech in the Seanad and we now have proof from the HSE that the additional hours will cover barely half the waiting list and will mean that thousands of people still won’t get home help.
The numbers provided to me by the HSE show that some 2.5 million home help hours would be needed to clear the waiting list in 2020 and give everyone 6.5 hours of care per week, at a cost of €59 million for the year.
This situation is economically and socially regressive – we have people medically assessed as needing home help who are not getting these hours.
It would have only taken €59 million to ensure everyone on the waiting list, including everyone in Mayo, got the home help they need.
