Dáil row over care for MS woman
Lorraine Leake's young children have had to help her to go to the bathroom and dress herself despite repeated requests for more home help.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said her case, highlighted in the Irish Examiner this week, was a heart-rending one and he would ask Health Minister Micheál Martin to take up the case.
But Labour leader Pat Rabbitte said Ms Leake's case was an example of Government cutbacks which were affecting the most vulnerable in society.
"The funding for home help has been cut. The minister has tried to mislead the House on this matter but the hours have been cut back.
"There are 6,000 people suffering from MS in Ireland, of which about 1,000 are progressive sufferers. All of them encounter bureaucratic obstruction in being assessed for home help or a personal assistant, yet nothing is being done about it," Mr Rabbitte said.
Mr Ahern said the health services should have responded to Ms Leake's requests for help but defended the Government's record on funding for home help.
Ms Leake, who is wheelchair- bound, has been allocated just 15 hours a week of home help, was left without any services for two months despite repeated requests for help. She was also given an extra 10 hours of home help this week.
"The children take on an adult role. They have to help me with most things, and they make my dinner every evening under my supervision," said Ms Leake, 32, from Douglas, Cork.
"They had to do the extra Christmas shopping, purchase gifts as well as do their Christmas exams and perform their piano, flute and violin concerts," she said.
Mr Ahern said that while Ms Leake's letter to the Irish Examiner was a heart-rending one, substantial progress had been made in improving home help. He said investment in carers' payments had increased by 250%, from 46m a few years ago to 156m now.
"The letter dates from 2002, not 2003. These issues are being dealt with and there has been a considerable expansion in care and treatment. There are 4,500 additional patients receiving home help, but that does not take from what Deputy Rabbitte first asked about the sad case involving this individual."
Ms Leake, however, has said it has been extremely embarrassing to have to fight to get services she is entitled to.
"You are made to feel like a parasite There are so many people supervising and as soon as there are cutbacks, it's the people working on the ground who are cut," he said.
Nicola Meacle, programme manager for the Centre for Independent Living which is providing some home help for Ms Leake said vastly more services were needed.
"It's always the most vulnerable affected by cuts it's disappointing that it's only when one case is highlighted in the media that the health board takes notice. There needs to be more equality and fairness in the system," she said.
