Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Credit is due to the Independent Members of the Technical Group for tabling this motion. It reminds one of Mahatma Ghandi when he said that the greatness of a nation is to be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable. When one meets elderly people while canvassing, the issues that arise are often repeated. They include security, vulnerability, isolation, and money for heat, light and food, etc. These issues are symptoms of Government policy that has sought to push people into the workforce.

Elderly people are left isolated. In its 2002 report, the Combat Poverty Agency stated that 41% of people living alone are over the age 65 years. The Tánaiste, who has elderly relatives, should have known this — we can all speak from experience on this — yet she considered it necessary to convene a meeting of Age Action to try and get to grips with what concerns elderly people hold. This is like closing the door after the horse has bolted. The Tánaiste will not be able to meet with the carers who are providing an extremely valuable service for a pittance as they are not able to leave home very often. In view of this, I hope she will visit people in their homes and meet with carers.

The Tánaiste, to use her own language, talked about saving the country a fortune. Costs and savings are perhaps the only way in which she can grasp an issue. Only for the voluntary effort and self-sacrifice of countless people, this country would be repeatedly before human rights courts because of its abuse of elderly people.

Progress has been made on sheltered housing. However, this has been achieved by those who saw a need for it in their communities and were prepared to act. They kept pushing until it happened. I pay tribute to Declan O'Sullivan in Skerries. His efforts should be emulated elsewhere. It is because of Government failures that people are driven to making enormous sacrifices in their communities. For example, the day care centre in Swords would not have been founded were it not for the effort of the local community. In Balbriggan, senior citizens are depending on a private developer to build their premises.

This pattern is being repeated all over the country. The Government is being found out. People are realising that it is winging it when it comes to dealing with the elderly. There are more than 100,000 carers in the country and when one meets them, one will find that they feel entirely forgotten, undervalued and taken for granted. That is an indictment of the Government.

The Government needs to look at this issue more radically. The Green Party has, for many years, proposed a citizen's income scheme to meet the needs of families and elderly people, and to address the widening gap between rich and poor. Such a radical scheme is required if the Government is to have any credibility in looking after elderly people.

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