Dan Boyle (Green Party)

The subject of elder abuse as a matter of debate in this country has not received sufficient airing for a number of reasons. As has been commented on in the Chamber, representative groups such as Age Action have noted the level of elder abuse is substantially under-reported. This is probably because the nature of the abuse means it often occurs in close familial relationship and there is a reluctance on the part of the older abused person to report such abuse.

We must consider the type of abuse that occurs. We tend to think of physical abuse but often it can be emotional, psychological, social and economic, as was pointed out by Senator Mullen. There is an onus on the State and State agencies to define the abuse and then find out the incidence of it in society. We are probably not prepared to admit that it exists to as great a degree as many of us fear. Those who work at the coalface give anecdotal and personal evidence of its existence. In part this comes down to the level of support we are able to offer as a society. We had, and still do to a certain extent but less so than before, a good neighbourly concept and a sense of community. However, this has drifted and become more distant. We have relied more on the activity of voluntary groups which find it hard to find volunteers and receive sufficient support from the public and the State. State authorities, which are meant to fill existing gaps, operate under unacceptable constraints in the present circumstances.

Mention was made of the programme for Government. One element which, as a negotiator, I was happy to have included was a commitment towards piloting on a wider scale the integrated approach to elder care which exists at the Westgate facility in Ballincollig in Cork. This facility has long-term residential care and day care and meets the social and medical needs of the people who avail of the centre. It covers a large geographical area. I appreciate the economic situation has changed substantially since the programme for Government was published which makes spreading out a pilot scheme much more difficult but I argue that this is still a far more cost-effective way of dealing with care of the elderly and, more particularly, as a means of identifying the existence of elder abuse. With this integrated approach which links family, home, community and individuals we have a system that does not exist in the more formal aspects of care of the elderly.

Yesterday's budget brought an end to many tax reliefs in the area of health. Many of these were unacceptable, particularly tax relief with regard to private hospitals. Tax relief is being maintained for nursing homes and for child care facilities. I am not sure whether this is the correct approach and the money foregone in tax is money we could acquire and spend more effectively in communities.

Mention was made of the decision of the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to prune its budget under a very small heading which covers €3.5 million for security assistance for the elderly. As someone who has experience of community work, I am not sure of the value of specified grants. I would much prefer a generic approach to be given to communities with varying demographic circumstances. Block grants should be given to various communities and depending on their economic circumstances they could choose to spend them accordingly. If an area of economic need has a large population of older people it should have the freedom to do this and not depend on a specified grant system to allow this work to happen. If anything comes out of the review by an bord snip of the work of particular Departments and how public money can be spent more effectively, it could be that we spend more money in these areas but give more freedom to local communities to choose how the money can be used.

My father was very involved in Neighbourhood Watch in our community in Cork. While it was considered a general community security measure, most of its work involved elderly people living on their own. It had a system of home visits and ensuring panic buttons and particular doorbell systems were installed which allowed people to feel safe in the communities in which they lived. They knew there was somebody living nearby whom they could contact. Ironically enough, often this is more difficult in an urban setting than a rural setting because elderly people living on their own close to a large number of people can feel quite isolated and more alone than in a rural setting where one lives at a distance from one's nearest neighbour. We should promote these supports and I wish the Minister of State well with this.

I must admit that I am very disappointed with the report of the task force on elder abuse. It was a missed opportunity. It did not report to the extent it should have and the narrow follow through which came out of a narrow-based document did not go as far as it could. If today's debate has a particular use in informing the Minister of State and helping the Government, it is that we must be more precise in knowing the nature of the problem we face, allocating the resources that can and should be made available to it and admitting as a society that we have a problem that must be faced up to. Overall, even though we are an ageing society, and this has been mentioned by several speakers, in European terms we are still quite young. If the economic resources are not available, in so far as possible we should be reknitting those community links that have become broken in recent years. We should use the resource of younger groups of people within communities to reconnect with older people and address many of the gaps in provision and help to prevent the type of circumstances referred to.