Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was really pleased by how the scheme worked last year. It is a scheme for the most vulnerable in society, people living in rural areas who were frightened in their own homes. I put the funding in place to ensure that the scheme would work. The Deputy asked about Pobal. It asked people to make applications and it dealt with that process. I did not get involved in it. I made sure the funding was provided. In fact, I had to allocate a further €400,000 last year for the scheme. It is unbelievable how people bought into it. We carried out serious advertising both nationally and locally, including on local radio stations. We asked people to try to help people living alone to participate in the scheme. There was a tremendous result in terms of the number of people who drew down the scheme. There were 12,600 applications and 10,100 installations. I am now considering what other things we can do under the scheme. The Deputy is aware of the pendant, but technology is changing every day with new and modern ways of doing things being introduced. I hope we will be able to examine ways and means of updating the scheme.

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