Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I never thought I would come in here and say that I was going to sound like the Taoiseach, or Deputy Enda Kenny as he was known before the last election. However, I am coming in here to support the elderly. Unlike our Taoiseach, I would be supporting the elderly if I was in the Government as well, but unfortunately he is not doing so. If the Taoiseach thinks it is no big deal to take the telephone allowance off the elderly, he obviously does not know exactly what they use the telephone for. I have had several people contact me about losing this allowance, because it means their pendant alarm will not work anymore. It was a big enough struggle for people even with those pendant alarms, given that the Government closed down their local Garda station and they do not feel that secure as it is, but it is a real low blow to take away their telephone. Some people will say that they can use mobile phones or some other form of technology, but the reality is that many elderly people find it very daunting to use a mobile phone. This means that the Government has cut them off. As far as I can remember, that is not what Deputy Enda Kenny was promising.

I notice that Vincent Browne played the clip twice last night of the Taoiseach making that wonderful promise. I think it should be played on a loop on a stand-alone channel so that people can tune in to see what they bought into at the last election.

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