The publication of the report, Protecting Our Future, towards the end of last year, was a momentous occasion for older people. They were being given a blueprint to deal with the scourge of elder abuse and a pledge that this blueprint will be implemented. Until recently, there was a feeling that elder abuse did not exist in Ireland. However, the report confirms what a number of us would suspect, namely, that a problem – the extent and nature of which remains to be identified – exists. This report, in starting with a definition of elder abuse and recommending the putting in place of structures to deal with suspected cases, will hopefully give older people who feel they are the subject of abuse in any shape or form, the confidence to report their anxieties, as appropriate, to a social worker, a public health nurse, a member of the Garda or indeed any professional or care worker.