Don Lydon (Fianna Fail)

There is no need for me to go over the items noted by other speakers. I welcome the motion, and the provisions made by the Minister for Finance. It is a good package and will help the elderly.

I have always said that if one finds a child or baby outside one's door in the morning, one takes it in and cares for it, but if one finds an elderly person, one might not be inclined to do so. Having dealt with elderly people a lot over the years, I have great empathy with them, especially those who are abandoned. Many elderly people have families who do not visit them, have nothing to do with them and do not look after them. That is very sad. There is a major problem in this country with people living alone, and with the increasing numbers of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease. I understand some 35,000 or 40,000 people currently suffering from that illness, and the numbers are rising.

Any nation which cannot care for its elderly population is not worth its salt. Such care is very important. When people have given their lives for the State, have worked and done the best they could with their lives, it behoves the rest of us to support them.

I compliment the Society of St. Vincent de Paul on its great work. I support some of the comments made on the various financial packages provided, including that for respite care, palliative care and home help. Home help personnel are not always what they are cracked up to be. They come to a home for a short time and cannot stay all day, but they help. However, elderly people on their own are very vulnerable and as the Minister of State said, it is a good idea to help them to stay in their own environments as long as they can. Elderly people do not like to be shifted around and moved from where they are used to living all their lives. Home help is very useful in this respect and is to be praised.

I would like to see the Government concentrate on the area involving people before they become elderly. I do not see any reason on God's earth why people have to retire at 65 if they do not want to. Many people might be engineers, for example, or company directors or postmen, on the day they reach the age of 65. The following day they have no job. All the knowledge and the accumulation of experience developed over a lifetime is lost to the community. Other countries such as America — or so I understand — make use of the great knowledge such people have in order to train young people, to help them, to inculcate values and even look after children. We should follow such examples.

There is a lot that elderly people can do, and should be encouraged to do up to the end. That is why I like to see emphasis on primary rather than tertiary care. I like to see emphasis on exercise programmes and on proper dieting. I do not mean merely physical exercising, but mental exercising, people using their minds up to the end. One can recall people who have remained on in office, such as Seán MacBride. Many such people work into their 80s or 90s, because they believe they can do so and are given some encouragement. I have met many elderly people who had so much to offer the community but were landed in a psychiatric hospital or a nursing home — particularly in bad nursing homes, of which there are many. I have no hesitation in saying the best nursing home in the country is in Crinken, Shankill, run by the St. John of God Order. It is spotlessly clean. A great programme is provided as are good food and individual rooms. Great care is also provided as well as respite care.

I welcome the increases in old age pensions but they should be around €1,000 per week and should be means tested. If one tried to live on €10,000 per year, one would know what it was like. Elderly people should have enough money and if they do not, they should be helped. I know we cannot afford to give €1,000 per week but we must aim towards it. The Government's ambition of moving towards €200 per week is laudable. Nobody thought it could be achieved but it will be shortly. The Government should be complimented on that.