Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. It is very poor for the Government to dismiss this Private Members' Bill as it has. I have stood up here in the Dáil many times to advocate for the rights of vulnerable people and the elderly. I support the Bill because it seeks to protect the financial autonomy of vulnerable persons, specifically elderly people who lack the reasonable mental or physical capacity to guard against financial abuse. The question is as follows. Would someone know if an older relative, friend or neighbour was being financially abused?

Last year it was reported that the alleged abuse of older people and people with disabilities had increased by almost 30%. The National Safeguarding Committee chairperson has stated that international research suggests that up to 10% of older adults may experience financial abuse. A total of 1,645 cases of alleged adult financial abuse have been reported to the HSE's national safeguarding office since it started collating data in January 2016 up to June 2017. This includes an increase of approximately 44% in the first half of 2017 compared with the same period in the previous year.

The bottom line is that elder abuse exists.

It is all around us. Sadly, many older people are suffering in silence, unaware of what they can do about it. In my heart of hearts, I know we are seeing only the tip of the iceberg regarding the level of abuse that exists by comparison with what is reported. It is time we stood up to lift the lid on the financial abuse of older people.

This Bill would take measures to protect vulnerable people and the elderly. For example, it would make it an offence to use an elderly person's confidential financial information and funds for unauthorised self-gain. It would make it an offence to force changes to a will or other legal documents. It would make it an offence to deny an elderly person the right to access his or her personal funds. This Bill is very relevant. Unfortunately, it is required because of the need to protect the rights of the vulnerable and the elderly. The Government is being very unfair in respect of the Bill. It was written in 2015 before nearly all the legislation to which the Minister of State referred even existed. How could Deputy Mattie McGrath anticipate that his Bill would conflict with legislation that did not yet exist? This is nothing short of an absolute nonsense on the part of the Government. Thankfully, it seems that Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin see the importance of protecting the elderly.

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