Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was absolutely shocked to learn that 120 elderly citizens throughout the country are accessing emergency accommodation. I received an update from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government by way of a parliamentary question on the level of homelessness among those aged over 65. I tabled that question because I was dealing with three such cases in my constituency. I thought that if I was dealing with cases, then every other Deputy must have a similar number. There are 6,035 adults accessing these services and 120 of them are elderly. This is disgraceful. While it may be small compared the overall number of homeless people, it signifies a failure on the part of the State to provide housing to a highly vulnerable cohort of our citizens. Older people can often find themselves in very vulnerable situations in the context of their health and personal finances and the fact that some are trying to deal with homeless issues at this stage of their lives is disgraceful. I would have thought that much earlier in this housing crisis older people would be specifically targeted. The additional needs of elderly people who are homeless must be addressed. I ask the Government to prioritise these 120 people. They are in a very vulnerable situation, with nowhere to live. Many of them have worked all of their lives and have fallen on hard times. I ask the Minister and Minister of State to think about that.

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