Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Older citizens are the backbone of our community and deserve to be supported with the very best care we can provide. As other speakers said, the country has an ageing population. There will be approximately 850,000 people over the age of 65 years by 2026.

This will place huge burdens and pressures on our services. Only by laying the foundation now as a stable Government can we in any way expect that these people will be able to receive their benefits in the future.

At present, citizens have a number of State supports from the Department of Social Protection and the HSE, as a number of speakers have said. The State pension has been maintained by the Government despite the very challenging economic circumstances we have gone through over the last years. The living alone allowance was increased to €9 per week. There are also the household benefit packages worth €35 per month and the free TV licence, which many senior citizens tell me are the lifeline of their week. The Christmas bonus was abolished by the previous Government in 2009. The Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, partly restored it this year and will hopefully continue to do so.

There are currently approximately 820,000 customers in receipt of free travel allowance, at a cost of €77 million per annum. No one can tell me that is not caring for the elderly. I hear regularly that in other countries, such our neighbour across the water, people with free travel can only travel within the region in which they live and cannot go all over the country like elderly people here. It is a real benefit. I believe in the carer's allowance, the domiciliary allowance and the respite care grant. They are all very important in having a civilised society which helps older people.

The Government's policy of supporting older people is for them to live in dignity and independence in their own homes and communities for as long as possible. I am fully behind this policy as I know many elderly people who are capable of caring for themselves at home but might need a little help now and again. The home help service is of great value in the community. People in the community see the same friendly faces each morning and work side by side with each other. They are the backbone of home help provision in every community across our cities, particularly when it comes to dressing older people, washing them, giving them their meals and just being there to sit with them and talk to them.

We all want dignity when we get older. We want our loved ones to be able to be cared for whether they are our parents, aunts or uncles, but especially our senior citizens. It is not always possible for families to be around 24/7, which is why we need to keep providing the home help service to care for senior citizens and allow people to stay at home. The increase in home help services into the future will allow people to remain at home and live out their days with dignity in the community where they want to be.

See this speech in context