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

Last month, my Rural Independent colleagues and I spoke on the Vulnerable Persons Bill 2015, where we highlighted the vulnerability of elderly people. We are here again speaking about elderly people and the difficulties that they face. Is it not clear to the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, that issues of the elderly are coming up every day, sometimes several times a day, in the Dáil? This surely highlights the seriousness of the issues that elderly people face.

Elderly people are being victimised in this country. I have recently been told of the closure of the west Cork carers support group's office in Bantry. This is a terrible loss to carers in Bantry.

Not only will Bantry lose this facility, but I have been told today that the blood pressure clinic there is also closing. This is another attack on our elderly people.

We can see the splashing around that has happened but nothing is happening on the ground. We have seen the release of shocking statistics. It has been reported that in the past year, almost 10,000 elderly people were left waiting on hospital trolleys for over 24 hours. These shocking statistics have led to this being branded a national scandal. My fear is that with the onset of winter, these numbers will increase again. A HIQA report from 2012 suggests that best practice should involve a patient spending six hours or less in an emergency department. In its service plan, this Government recently set a target of 24 hours or less. This is 18 hours more than the suggestion by HIQA. There are elderly people waiting years for procedures, some of which only take 15 minutes. How does the Minister of State think it acceptable to ask an individual aged 90 to wait for up to four years for a cataract procedure? Many of our carers are elderly. Time and again, I have raised in this Chamber the unacceptable situation whereby carers wait months for their carer's allowance. How does the Minister of State expect anyone to survive without money for months? I have been crying out for extra home help hours. When will this happen? The bottom line is that elderly people are bearing the brunt of the Government's leadership from the lack of home help hours to the lack of respite facilities to the long waiting times for procedures to delays in emergency departments.

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