Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputies Ring and Penrose.

I wish to put on record my appreciation of the work the Department does. The officials are always extremely helpful and very understanding when dealing with individual cases. They deal with people empathetically within the regulations. If they can, they err on the side of the applicant, which is a good approach by a Department of State. 3 o'clock

One issue that has come to my attention is the question of social welfare for people who were self-employed. They find themselves with no support services. This is a serious problem because many of them have nothing. Whatever savings they might have had during the boom disappear very quickly. We should impart education and knowledge to the self-employed through public information campaigns. Where we can identify people who are self-employed or as they become self-employed - please God there will be more of them than there are at present - we must make them aware of the entitlements they do not have. If possible, we should have an information campaign for people who are self employed, to tell them how they can protect themselves and their savings or what funds they can avail of in the private sector that would assist them when times turn bad. I refer in particular to people who were involved in the building industry, many of whom are ordinary people with a basic education. Some of those people may not have spent too much time in secondary school and they are going through a very lean period currently. I would like to think that the support services available to them would be improved. An information campaign would be most important in that regard.

Nuala Early was mentioned by Deputy Morgan. I endorse what he said. Senior citizens around the country are especially concerned that the funding for personal alarms has been withdrawn. I accept the matter comes under the remit of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. I found the statement by the Minister, Deputy Ó Cuív, on the Department's website to be particularly sickening. He is effectively saying the system is now in limbo and that it will take two or three months to review it. Anybody who has received a personal alarm will keep it but, in effect, the scheme has been discontinued.

The scheme must be restored, as many elderly people have no hope of support in isolated communities. A person may be unable to get to a telephone if he or she falls and if nobody lives with him or her a personal alarm is of the utmost importance as a near neighbour or whoever is the designated person can be alerted in time of difficulty. That scheme was most helpful to the elderly and its discontinuation is a significant blow to elderly people, especially those with a disability or who are isolated and have nobody living with them.

In many counties the housing aid for the elderly scheme has been discontinued, which again, is a withdrawal of services to senior citizens, this time through the local government system. That creates a serious problem for persons in acute hospital beds in need of discharge. They can only go home if a home help is in place but also if their home is adapted for their needs. People who suffer from serious heart disease can no longer climb stairs and they need toilet and shower facilities downstairs. It is a retrograde step that those works will no longer be provided. That means those people who are most at risk in society, those who are most likely to need help in their homes, will have to do without. That is a negative development.

Older people are most concerned about the Christmas bonus because they have traditionally looked after their grandchildren at Christmas and the opportunity will no longer be there. One elderly person put it to me that it is as if their wages have been cut by €4.50 a week. That is upsetting and annoying for people. The Minister will be aware of the strong feelings that exist on the matter. I hope the Government can do its sums in another way and restore the Christmas bonus for the elderly.

The charge is often laid against Fine Gael that it took a shilling off old age pensioners in the 1930s. The removal of the Christmas bonus from people who need it and who have no other source of income will be the historic legacy of the Minister.

Níl an Teachta Ring anseo.

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