Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)

I welcome this important debate on the elderly. I also welcome any extra spending and funding used to provide services for the elderly. We should acknowledge any step forward. I wish to support the elderly in a practical way and to put forward a few ideas on how to assist them in their communities and ensure they have maximum support.

Approximately 440,000 people, 11% of the population are over 65 years of age. Many do not regard 65 as old. People who reach that age want to continue working, contributing to, and being directly involved in society. We should do away with the idea that at the age of 65 people should pack their bags and go fishing when they want to do many other things. The elderly should have choice.

Of these 440,000, approximately 266,000 are over 70 years of age and one third live alone. There are 25,000 elderly people in long-stay beds or nursing homes and a further 13,000 who need high to maximum dependency care continue to live at home. This should be the focus of the Minister of State's investment. The supports should be in place for these 13,000 people as priority cases.

We should also respect the rights of the elderly, most of whom wish to receive care in their homes and local communities. We should never take that right away from them. Providing those services where possible should be a key issue for us, as a State, as taxpayers and funders of local services. We should assist the many families of the elderly who make sacrifices to provide the best possible care for them. This topic should be discussed in this debate. We have already made a start on it.

I demand that the Government immediately provide adequate resources and a comprehensive infrastructure for care for the elderly. I also demand a guarantee of dignity through income support, a priority in health care, back-up support when the elderly are ill or convalescing, and information about entitlements as a right. These are core issues. I also demand accountability from decision makers which our society lacks. Too many people fudge, hedge and dodge decisions and responsibility. The Minister of State should get on with the job of looking after the elderly, put the funding in place and give them maximum support. If the Minister of State does not or cannot deliver he should be accountable to the people and the Dáil.

The Tánaiste spoke this morning about the 400 people in hospitals who need extra supports in their homes or other residential units. This should be an immediate priority too because these people need the support services. Many of them ring my office regularly. They do not want to be in hospital. They want to be in a home with proper support services or in a different type of community. There are many creative ideas in circulation for looking after the elderly. We need to be flexible and consider these issues.

On many occasions the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children and the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, have acknowledged that the home help service is crucial to Government policy because it allows elderly people live with dignity in their own homes and communities. It helps reduce the demand for expensive hospital and nursing home care.

For years the service provided personal and social care for many of the most vulnerable in our society and it is often the only daily personal contact an elderly person may have with the outside world. Notwithstanding the public acknowledgement of the importance of the service, the Department of Health and Children and its associated agencies continue to deny fair and reasonable treatment to the home helps who provide the service on the ground. This is unacceptable because the humanity and decency that they unselfishly provide in the care of their clients is denied to them. I support SIPTU's national campaign, Be Fair to Those who Care, to ensure that those who work in the home services are treated with respect and dignity. It is important to respect the rights of the elderly as citizens and provide the services they deserve.

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