Ms Celine O'Connor:

It takes 20 years to change a culture. In 2002, we had Protecting Our Future, which was the first research done on elder abuse in Ireland. We have had changes in the past 20 years with Leas Cross, Brandon, Grace and Aras Attracta. I do not want to be here in another 20 years asking what we have done. I have a quote that I often use at training, which I will give the committee now:

May you never be the reason why someone who loved to sing doesn’t sing anymore. Or why someone who dressed so uniquely now wear plain clothes. Or why someone who always spoke excitedly about their dreams is now silent about them. May you never be the reason why someone gave up on part of themselves because you were so demotivating, non-appreciative, hypercritical, or even worse, sarcastic about it.

We need to keep people at the centre. We need to legislation because we have to move culture faster. We cannot allow another 20 years to pass. We currently use the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland) Act 1871 as the only mechanism to protect people. That will be gone in two months’ time. We will have a massive gap in terms of how social workers on the ground go to the courts and look for an order to protect somebody. It is urgent at this state.