by Alan Jacques
THE GOVERNMENT has been accused of a “bitter betrayal” on supports for older people following confirmation that over 143,000 home help hours have been slashed over the past five years in Limerick alone.
According to Census 2011, there are 8,246 family carers in Limerick city and county providing around 200,000 hours of care every week in their own homes.
Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Willie O’Dea, who is the party spokesman on Social Protection, told the Limerick Post this week that many older people are finding it more and more difficult to continue living at home following a substantial reduction in home help supports since this Government came into office.
“The cuts to home help hours for older people are nothing short of disgraceful and are another example of the Government’s failure to keep the promises it made in order to get itself elected,” the Limerick politician claimed.
“Fine Gael and Labour committed to increasing home help supports year on year. What has happened is the complete opposite. The assistance hours have been slashed by over 25 per cent in Limerick over the past five years, which is way above the national average of around 10 per cent, and as a result of these harsh cuts, older people are finding it increasingly difficult to stay living in their own comes,” he said.
Figures provided at a recent Oireachtas Health Committee meeting show that the number of home help hours in Limerick is down from 524,671 in 2010 to a projected 381,000 in 2015 — a fall of 143,671 hours over five years.
Nationally the number of home help hours are down from 11,680,516 in 2010 to a projected 10,447,000 in 2015 — a fall of 1,253,516 hours over five years.
Deputy O’Dea continued: “This cut clearly highlights the extent of the Government’s betrayal of its Programme for Government commitment in relation to home supports for older people. It’s another example of Fine Gael and Labour’s continued attack on older people and people with disabilities.
“The cuts to over 70’s medical cards, to home adaption grants, to the housing aid for older people scheme, to the telephone allowance, the abolition of the bereavement grant, and the five fold hike in prescription charges have had a serious impact on older people in Limerick and across the country.
He feels it is deeply unfair for the Government to continue to target older people in this way and also “extremely counter-productive”.
“By failing to provide the supports needed to allow people to live securely and with dignity in their own homes, the Government is forcing these people onto the already overburdened hospital system and costing the taxpayer more in the long-run.”
