John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I have been present for most of the debate which has been very worthwhile.

I wish to raise a number of points, most of which have been touched on by previous speakers. I agree wholeheartedly with Senator Ormonde in regard to the retirement age. There is an urgent need for the Government to examine the stereotypes and rules that have surrounded retirement for many years. In general, people nowadays enjoy much better health, both physically and mentally, for much longer than was the case for people in the past. Many people today would warmly welcome the opportunity of being able to remain in employment after the traditional retirement age. I would welcome a change in that respect. I would also welcome a broad-ranging discussion, particularly on this important issue, with those groups who represent elderly people.

I also want to raise the issue of transport. The Minister of State represents a rural constituency, as do I. One of the main obstacles facing people of all ages, but particularly older people — many of whom might not have transport of their own — is the lack of sufficient transport facilities. Strides have been made in the provision of services. In some of the larger towns, groups have been set up to provide a transport service from the outlying regions to the centre once or twice a week, but that level of service is not sufficient. I would welcome a significant improvement in that regard in the very near future. I am thinking in particular of the provision of feeder buses to main transport routes. A number of national primary routes pass through my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny on which there are scheduled bus services. However, for people who live in villages a few miles from those routes, the transport service available to them is virtually non-existent. If we are serious about tackling the problems older people face, we need to address this issue because one of the main problems they face is isolation, particularly in rural, but also in urban, areas. The is a physical gap between where people live and where they wish to go to obtain services. I would welcome a significant improvement in this area.

I wish to raise the issue of the fair deal plan, which was also raised by Senator Mary White. She said she was disappointed that it seems to have been shelved. I echo her comments. In 2006, a commitment was given by the Minister for Health and Children that this plan would come into play. We were told last year it would be introduced within a matter of months, but we are half way through 2008 and it seems to have dropped off the radar. As I stated on the Order of Business this morning, the economy is not as strong as it has been for the past 15 years. Those people who are now retired stayed in this country and kept the economy ticking over when we had very little. We owe them a debt of gratitude. The least we owe them is a fair deal — a self-explanatory phrase in the title of that scheme — in their twilight years.

I believe this is an appropriate forum in which to raise the following matter. When difficulties arose in regard to the charging of residents in nursing homes a number of years ago, the nursing homes refund scheme was established. Many residents in public nursing homes were refunded. However, I have been presented with a case which I believe is representative of 3,000 other cases across the country. I refer to the case of elderly relatives who moved to live in private nursing homes merely because there was no public nursing home option available in the area in which they lived. The majority if not all of those people do not fall under the remit of the refund scheme. That is a disgrace. The case with which I am familiar is that of a family who did not have great resources. The elderly woman in question, who has since deceased, moved into a private nursing home. Her family scraped for years, in the absence of a public facility, to pay for this private accommodation. Now they are told they do not qualify for a refund. It is a disgrace.