Full text of Cllr.Fiona Kerins' speech in support of home help workers campaign against cuts

Speech given by Cllr.Fiona Kerins in Cork City Council last night in support of Sinn Fein's motion calling on council to support the Home Help workers campaign against cuts in hours and funding:

I truly cannot believe that I am standing up to address a situation like this tonight. The economic crisis and this government’s austerity agenda has ensured that the people of Cork are faced with extremely tough times.

But just for minute, let us all imagine that each of us is facing these tough times as an elderly person who has become infirm or that maybe you have a disability. Suppose that one of the things, that allows you to cope, is the fact that you receive home help or that you have a home care package. Suppose, that despite the challenges, you take great strength and hope from the fact that this service allows you to live with dignity and independence in your own home and in your own community. I hope that we all have a clear picture of that in our heads.

Now let’s try to imagine that you are a worker. You are a worker who is committed to delivering the highest quality of care to your clients. You are trained and educated to provide that care, but you do it not just because it’s your job, but because it’s your vocation. You do it because you know that without your care, the people you help would struggle to have an acceptable, humane quality of life. So you go out every day and you work as hard possible. You do it to make a living but more importantly you do it to provide a vital service to those in need.

That isn’t such a bad picture when you think about it. You have people who need help in the home and you have the right people caring for them- dedicated people, who know the value of their work.

Then let us suppose that your government, who you assume would ensure that this dynamic is properly funded and maintained and that your rights are protect, sets out on a campaign to strip the service until it is rendered redundant and useless. Imagine that they decide to cut approximately 1,000,000 contact hours from the service and that they slash approximately €10 million in funding over the course of 12 months. Imagine that you are an elderly or disabled person sitting by the fire in the evening watching 6.1 News and that you have to hear reports of this nature over and over again. Where would your confidence go? You would become frightened for the future very fast indeed.

Imagine that you are a home care worker rushing from work to collect the kids from school. You husband is out of work and ye are already struggling to make ends meet. Then you hear these reports over the car radio. You too would become uncertain and scared.

That is a lot of fear.

It is not such a nice picture now, is it? The home care workers of this city play a critical role not only in enhancing the quality of life of older people and supporting their preferred wishes, but also in reducing pressures elsewhere in the healthcare system, including acute hospital services.

With these cuts, we are passing through the looking glass of austerity. Any way you chose to cut this up, the result is the same. The government is attacking the elderly, people living with disability and workers who have given life-times of commitment to community care.

If only they showed such determination when dealing with the bankers and the German Chancellor.

But, while some of you here are from the government parties, you do not have to go along with everything they say. You do not have to buy into this insanity. Look first to you own conscious on this issue and help put a stop to this madness. There is an old saying that goes “you can judge a society by the way it treats it most vulnerable members.” The history books will be heavy and they will not judge us kindly if we do not prevent this from happening.

Please support this motion. Let’s support the home helps in their campaign and send a message to this government that enough is enough.