Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I was horrified by the case of the 68 year old man who was twice robbed at home in west Clare. Eventually, he was in such terror that he felt his only option was to cycle to Ennis, the county's capital town, and check into a nursing home. Any right-minded citizen would be horrified if any individual of that or any age was subjected to such terror.

In light of this and other similar sinister crimes against old people, I call on the Ministers for Justice and Equality and Environment, Community and Local Government to revisit the Community Alert scheme in the context of the installation of panic buttons-alarms in the homes of elderly people, which alarms have proven successful in the past in providing elderly people with some level of comfort in terms of living in their own homes. I understand that owing to financial constraints, funding for the installation of panic alarms-buttons was reduced in the 2013 from €2.4 million to €1.2 million. In light of the recent crimes, I call on the aforementioned Ministers to re-examine this decision and to make more funding available for the installation of panic buttons-alarms for vulnerable elderly people.

I believe also that giving the Garda Reserve a role in visiting elderly people to advise them on security issues in terms of making their homes safer is worthy of consideration. The Garda Reserve does a great job and would, I believe, be happy to engage in this type of work. It is impractical to have gardaí at every street concern and on every country road but it is practical to provide for increased co-operation between communities and the Garda Reserve under the auspices of the local Garda superintendent. What happened in west Clare and the subsequent court case and what happened in Donegal a number of months ago, and in other areas, focuses our minds and underlines the need for new initiatives targeted at ensuring old people can remain living in their homes as long as possible because that is what all of us would like.