Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important Private Members' motion on supporting our senior citizens. I thank and commend Deputy Tom Fleming for bringing forward the motion and I also thank all of the Independent Deputies who are supporting it.

This is a very important part of the Independent vision for our country and, in this case, for our senior citizens, who have served the State so well. We all need to ensure that we have policies that are fair to senior citizens in order to maintain their dignity and independent living. The State has a duty of care for all of our people and our elderly have to be part of our society. I want a society built on social justice, on equality and respect and, above all, I want a society that puts the care of the elderly, a quality health service for all, and also for people with physical and intellectual disabilities, top of the political agenda. Tonight, in the Dáil, the Independent Deputies have proposed a plan to support our senior citizens. I call on all Deputies to support this motion in the vote tomorrow.

There are many excellent groups in this country which work with our senior citizens, including many in Dublin Bay north and across my own constituency that do magnificent work. However, the reality is they need and deserve our support. We also have to deal with the reality of what is happening in the country at the moment. Our population is aging rapidly and we are witnessing the most dramatic increase in population age in recent history. The current models are struggling to provide care for the older population and unless immediate action is taken to put in place long-term sustainable solutions, we are facing a major crisis.

It is envisaged that by 2026, there will be approximately 908,000 people aged 65 years and older, which accounts for 16% of the population. These are Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures. Currently, there are six working people to every one older person. By 2045, this will have changed to a ratio of 3:1. The cost of older persons' care is set to double to 1.8% of GDP by 2050. Every day over the next ten years, an additional seven older people in Ireland will require long-term residential care or home help. We need to plan and deal with the reality of what is happening at the moment.

We also need to be brave and sensible when it comes to funding these projects. People ask where we will get the money from. They should just look at the Revenue report over recent days. An extra €44 million was taken in by Revenue following a trawl of wealthy individuals in recent weeks. This was ahead of the June deadline. There were only 137 cases but the average settlement was in the region of €320,000. Since they started this trawling a number of years ago, the Revenue Commissioners have raked in around €2.7 billion on 35,000 cases. That is a figure we will not hear in the broader society and I bring it up tonight in respect of funding for services. One in three people in nursing home beds could be supported to live in our community. We have the second highest number of over-65s living in nursing home care in the European Union. We have a dramatically ageing population. As I said before, 16% of the population will be over 65 by 2026. That is the reality of what is going on.

We have two Ministers in the Chamber tonight. I call on the Government to implement a range of policies that are favourable to senior citizens to maintain independent living. I call on the Tánaiste and the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, to provide the supports and services to assist people to continue to live in their own homes. In light of the upturn in the economy, we should prioritise the household benefits package, including the electricity and gas allowance and the free television licence among other measures. We should continue to maintain the free travel scheme and the Christmas bonus. We should also ensure home help hours are maintained in line with demand in order that older people can age in their own communities. We should also invest in the Health Service Executive community care and community mental health services.

These are the proposals we are putting on the table tonight. I also want the Government to commit to supporting older people to live a better life and in their own communities. We need to develop our primary and community care systems. We need to extend the fair deal scheme to include home supports. We need to increase home help hours and home care packages, which will also reduce costs. We need to support older people to move home from acute hospital and nursing home beds after respite.

Recently, I spent a couple of hours in the accident and emergency department in Beaumont Hospital, in my own constituency. For the front-line staff there, the solution to their problem is 90 to 100 beds. Any Minister for Health who comes in here and says he can reform the health service without dealing with the reality is in error. Beaumont Hospital needs 90 to 100 beds, which would make a huge dent in many of the problems we see. We have to look at ourselves and face the reality. We must ask if it is acceptable in 2015 to have a 102 year old woman lying on a trolley in any hospital. For me, that is not acceptable and is criminal. We need to focus on the issues and on people's lives. We need to restore the grants to 2011 levels to allow older people to adapt their homes when they need change. We also need to restore the benefits to 2011 levels.

Approximately 35.4% of people in long-stay beds have low to medium support needs. Low dependency beds have seen a 44.6% increase from 2004. Medium dependency beds have increased 17.6% from 2004. Figures of low to medium dependency people in long-stay beds are increasing, while those for high to maximum are decreasing. There has been a 44.6% increase in the number of people with low support needs in nursing home beds from 2004 to 2013. There has been a 17.6% increase in the number of people with medium support needs in nursing home beds up to 2013. Research has shown there is a significantly higher number of older people going into nursing home care in Ireland than any of the other European countries. Approximately 7% of people aged 65 and over in Ireland live in nursing homes, whereas the figure is 4% for the same age group in the North. Those are the figures and statistics. To deal with the solutions, we have to deal with the facts. Ireland has 35% more people in nursing homes than the EU average as of 2013. The average length of stay in an Irish nursing home is 3.7 years while the average length of stay in UK nursing homes is 2.1 years.

We need to deal with the lack of community care. The lack of finance for home help hours and home care packages, mobility aid cuts and the lack of supportive housing have led to older people being forced away from their homes and communities. From 2011 to 2015, 1.6 million hours were taken away from the home help allocations. There is no legal obligation on the Government to provide home care services. Home care services throughout Ireland are unregulated and unevenly distributed. The housing adaptation grant, which would allow homes to be modified, should be supported.

These are the proposals we have put on the table. We also need to ensure the living alone allowance continues to reflect the cost of living and that the carer's allowance and half-rate carer's allowance are maintained. We need to recognise the value of respite supports and acknowledge the importance of the household adaptation grant for people with a disability, the housing aid for older persons scheme and home installation and energy saving for older people living at home. These will enhance the services for senior citizens.

I commend my colleague, Deputy Tom Fleming, on bringing this motion before the House. I thank and commend the Independent Deputies who have worked very hard on these issues and who also work very hard in their own constituencies every day. I want to build a country and society that has respect for our senior citizens. Many of these people have worked hard for many years and paid their taxes. It is the least they deserve now. I urge all Deputies to support our motion when it comes up for a vote tomorrow.

See this speech in context