Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

81. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if there are plans to move panic alarms administered by Pobal under the seniors alert scheme from copper phone lines to more robust broadband lines and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55509/25]

Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Storm Éowyn highlighted how vulnerable our older constituents with panic alarms and pendants are. Are there plans to move the seniors alert scheme away from copper phone lines?

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Deputy for her question and her ongoing advocacy, particularly post Storm Éowyn. The Department is responsible for the seniors alert scheme, which encourages community support for older people through the provision of personal monitored alarms to enable them to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind. Funding is available under the scheme for the purchase by a registered community based-organisation of a personal alarm or pendant. While the provision of the monitored alarm under the scheme is vital, so too is the engagement between the local community groups that sign people up to the scheme and the connections made between local people and local support structures. Since the scheme was launched in 2015, 153,023 participants have been approved for the alarms, including over 18,200 in 2024.

With regard to the issue of copper lines, when a person has been approved for an alarm under the scheme, a technician will install the correct device depending on the connectivity options at the person’s home. Currently, devices provided under the scheme connect to monitoring services via landlines, including copper, or via broadband and mobile networks. I understand that a small number of seniors alert scheme devices still operate over copper telephone lines at premises where no other option presents itself or where the participant has not requested a replacement. I am assured that where viable, a broadband or mobile device will always be recommended to participants over the older landline devices.

Officials at my Department have been engaging with Pobal, representative groups and the relevant telecommuications operator on the potential impacts of the replacement of copper infrastructure and plans to phase out the use of remaining legacy devices.

Our Department is currently reviewing all aspects of the seniors alert scheme, including the technology and services available. I hope we will be in a position to launch a new iteration of the scheme some time next year. I thank the Deputy for this important question.

Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is welcome that a review is taking place. All of us, including my colleague from Mayo, are scarred by what we witnessed during Storm Éowyn. I would like to know how many people on the alarms are still on the old copper telephone lines. We need to look at this retrospectively. I understand the review is not supposed to be finished until next summer and I am worried about our preparedness for this winter. This relates to vulnerable adults in their nineties whose panic alarms go down. First the ESB goes down. They wait for the electricity to come back and then realise the problem is the telephone line, and Eir does not have the wayleave rights necessary to get onto properties. Following Storm Éowyn, it was weeks and sometimes months before an alarm was restored. If there is family nearby, they have to move in for days and communities try to rally around. I was awake in my bed at night thinking something was going to happen to a 90- or 100-year-old on their own in their bed.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Both the Minister and I are acutely aware of that. We have been anxious to ensure the distress many people felt is not replicated. That is why the review is taking place. There has been extensive engagement by our Department, and by the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, with the telecom companies. As part of that review alternative technologies are being examined and considered, because the Deputy is right. Any iteration of the scheme must take technological advances into account. Deputy Calleary and I are acutely aware. Both he and Deputy Keogh come from County Mayo, which was badly affected by Storm Éowyn. The key point is that the seniors alert scheme gives security to older and more vulnerable people at a critical time, especially in storms. If that confidence is gone, we will work with whoever to ensure we do not lose that important connectivity. Obviously, the storm has an effect on the cables and networks and that is a different matter, but the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, is engaging with the telecom companies on that.

Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Cross-government action is needed. We see the fantastic roll-out of the national broadband plan, which is having great results in Mayo. As the Minister of State said, broadband alarms are being recommended, but we have to go back retrospectively. More than 1,000 people in Mayo are using these alarms. I think of the people in Binghamstown, Belmullet, out in Leenane and in some of the rural black spots. Where we have been successful in putting in rural broadband we should get community groups to go out retrospectively, right now, ahead of winter 2025 to see the people whose panic alarms are attached to copper telephone lines, and see if we can get them switched over to the national broadband plan where it has already caught up. I acknowledge that there are ongoing reviews following Storm Éowyn and into panic alarms. However, if we are in this situation in December and the telephone lines go down again, I do not think we will be accountable to our constituents if we leave them.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We must take learnings from every storm and apply them in the round to what we can do better. The Deputy is right that there was huge success. There is merit in her suggestion about community groups being involved because they are critical to connectivity. However, the Minister and I have been clear with the officials in our Department that there must be extensive engagement. Pobal staff are involved, as are the telecom operators and the technology consultants. It is also imperative that representatives of groups for older people are involved because they bring learnings and outcomes back to people and from people. Equally, as the Deputy knows, the replacement of copper networks with fibre is the responsibility of Eir and ComReg and that lies under the remit of the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan. We have been speaking and engaging with him. To be fair, he is driven by this as well because it is important that we instill security and confidence. Any iteration of the new scheme must take into account technological advancements, even accepting that we have made huge strides with our national broadband strategy, which has proved successful. I will take the Deputy's points back.