Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to clarify a point. I agree that there is isolation and loneliness in urban areas. I know that I probably homed in on rural areas but I fully accept that in constituencies such as the one Deputy Donnelly represents and in other big urban areas, it is also necessary to look out for people. The point about technology was a fair one but there will still be a cohort of people who will not become technology friendly, particularly older people, so we need to look at how we can help them. I admit that they have become handy with text messages, WhatsApp and some of them are using computers, as I see in my own home. It is just a small cohort of people who might be left stranded, such as in the case I mentioned, particularly if they do not have family around them. That can be a problem. Technology has a huge benefit for people but we must get everybody working on and understanding that technology and in many cases we need to ensure that people are not afraid of it.