Patricia Ryan (Kildare South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Minister of State and look forward working with her constructively.

Covid-19 has had a disproportionate effect on our older population, not just in the number of elderly people who died but in how the Government's response impacted on their daily lives. In the context of every roadmap and announcement, they were told to cocoon and stay hidden in their homes and that everything would be okay. We see now that everything was not okay.

The level of over-subscription to the Age Action and Irish Red Cross hardship fund shows that there is a huge need for the Government to set up a fund of its own. While I commend the work of Age Action, it, and groups like it, exist only because of the continued failure of successive Governments to provide proper funding and services for our older population. More than 21,000 applications were received for the Age Action fund. With €103,000 raised, only 453 applications out of 21,000 were granted. This was not Age Action's fault. It petitioned the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to help in meeting this demand. It is a disgrace that calls were ignored and that many vulnerable elderly people were left with no additional financial support during this difficult time. I have spoken with representatives from Age Action who expressed their deep frustration at this. Many of these applications were from people who relied on external supports such as day care centres, which are still not open, while others require technology to assist in maintaining social and familial relationships.

Samaritans Ireland agreed a memorandum of understanding with ALONE, many of whose volunteers felt overwhelmed by the levels of emotional distress expressed by the callers. Between 9 March and 28 June, ALONE received more than 25,000 calls from older people and made almost 120,000 calls. We need day care services for older people to reopen. We need repair works on older people's services. I particularly want to see the long-awaited repairs to Monasterevin Day Care Centre prioritised and completed as soon as possible. This has been an ongoing saga for many years.

Finally, I would like to recommend that people watch the movie "I, Daniel Blake". I have a copy and it should be compulsory viewing for all politicians. While set in Newcastle in England, the story will be familiar to people who must apply for any State supports here in Ireland. We need to remove the huge amount of red tape to make it easier to apply for State benefits. For example, the form to apply for the carer's allowance is 40 pages long. Some State supports can only be applied for online. This disadvantages many of our citizens, particularly, the older people I deal with.

Will the Minister of State engage with the many groups that represent older people and listen to their views? Please give them the help they deserve because they are the backbone of our country.

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