Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the speakers for attending. As I said to the departmental representatives, this discussion is very timely. If anything, legislators are behind the ball in respect of the work officials have done heretofore and that is being done by the delegates. It is not said enough that there is a crisis concerning housing for the elderly. That is probably because we do not have many 70- and 80-year-old journalists. It just does not tickle the fancy of the media. However, this is a massive issue and we can see its effect. As we told the Department, if you want to know whether there is a loneliness and housing crisis for the elderly, you should knock on an elderly person's door. If someone is willing to talk to a politician for 40 minutes, you know he or she must be lonely. The politician is the only person he or she will have seen. For a while, I thought I was going to be a very popular politician and then I realised there was actually a loneliness crisis. It goes to show we have not given this due attention. That is why today's presentations are very important. I commend the guests on the significant work they are doing.

The ALONE submission referred to 60,000 homes. How has it arrived at that figure? Is it based on departmental figures or its own research? Has it got a geographical breakdown of the figures?