Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Máire Hoctor, and congratulate her on her reappointment as a Minister of State with responsibility for older people. I listened to her speech and it is an excellent idea that she would integrate into her office the National Council on Ageing and Older People. It is a tremendous resource and probably the best organisation for older people.

We spoke about elder abuse and there was a day last week which marked how important it is to get on top of the issue. From my information, it appears most of this abuse occurs in the home, coming from family members, rather than those in institutions. For those non-family people looking after older people, it is more difficult to deal with family members abusing older people. There is a major issue in that and I wish the Minister of State the best of luck in dealing with it.

I am disappointed the Minister, Deputy Harney, has not been able to deliver the fair deal legislation. This was promised at the beginning of this year and I told people in the last few months of 2007 that it would come about. I was very supportive of it. It is very disappointing that six months later it still has not happened. That is not the Minister of State's problem.

I will make a few points on the position of older people. I welcome all the ladies in the Visitors Gallery. Last Friday I attended a conference in UCD to mark Elder Abuse Day 2008. The president of UCD, Dr. Hugh Brady, in opening the conference stated that we are witness to the greatest democratic shift in human history. The average person in the world today can expect to live 20 years longer than their average counterpart during the first half of the previous century. All of us in this room can expect to live 20 years longer than people in the previous century. It is a fantastic feeling.