Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Ireland can be the greatest little country in the world in which to do business but, as my party leader has asked on a number of occasions, is this the greatest little country in the world in which to grow old in? We all aspire to growing old in good shape and with good facilities and security available to us. The one thing the elderly need and demand from the political system is a sense of security and safety. They demand a safety net. They want to know that they will be okay and that if they get sick they will be looked after. If they live alone, they expect that they will be protected.If they do not have independent means, they expect the State to recall the sacrifices they made and the hard work they did throughout their years, whether in rearing children or contributing to their communities. At the end of their lives they hope this will be remembered and recognised and that practical support and actions flowing from the words of politicians will be available or carried out for their benefit.

Various issues affecting the elderly have been rehearsed in the debate. Like all Members, I speak to elderly people all the time. They tend to know the politicians in their constituency, much more so than young people. Perhaps that is due to a familiarity built up over many years, although some are very much part of a political tradition. Among the measures they point to as having a particularly harsh effect on their lives and lifestyles is the prescription charge. Senator Marc MacSharry said there was a promise to abolish it prior to the previous general election, but he is wrong. The then Fine Gael spokesperson on health, Deputy James Reilly, now Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, committed to abolishing it once he took office in March or April 2011. That gave false hope because it was not an election promise; it was, presumably, a commitment flowing from the programme for Government. Not only did he fail to abolish it but the charge has escalated. If this teaches us one thing, it is that whenever a charge or tax is brought in, it only goes one way. Taxes never reduce or disappear. A harsh lesson has been learned in that regard. A charge of 50 cent was applied with the best of intentions and with the support of many people to ensure medicines would be used for the purpose for which they had been provided and to ensure they would not be provided unnecessarily, but this sensible arrangement has simply morphed into a tax that is having an impact on the elderly who would love to have seen movement on this issue in the budget.

Another issue the elderly raise regularly is the loss of the telephone allowance, which has been much more than a financial loss. They had the security of knowing that they could stay in contact with their relatives, friends and the Garda, if necessary, but they now face the additional costs associated with having a monitoring device, which are considerable. This affects the security of the elderly and it is incumbent on us all to work to have the allowance restored.

While I appreciate that the Minister of State's Department is not responsible, I have received a number of complaints about the new system for monitoring alarms. The community groups that provide and supervise the systems for the elderly state Pobal is requiring them to do a great deal of work that ordinarily would have been done by public servants. The organisation is putting a great deal of bureaucracy in their way to maintain these community alert systems. This is scaring many of the groups involved and I hope it will not have a negative effect on the provision of such systems. Many groups were happy dealing with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government because they knew the officials involved. There was significant upset a few years ago when the telephone allowance was cut, on which there were various political debates. Generally, officials in that Department were helpful to community groups that administered these schemes. However, the changeover to Pobal has not gone smoothly, according some of those to whom I have spoken. Some changes are necessary, but the process of change needs to be explained better and improvements need to be made to bring the community groups along. This issue has been raised by genuine people who assist the elderly in the provision of monitored alarm systems. Many of them give of their time voluntarily to organise the schemes and often they are elderly themselves. More power to them that they are doing this.

If there was movement on the telephone allowance and the prescription charge, it would give a deeper sense of security to the elderly who need to feel secure. Respect for one's elders in an ancient tradition in this country. The extended families of fadó, with the elderly granny sitting in the corner being looked after, are no longer as prevalent and care homes tend to look after more of the elderly. That derives from our own traditions, while all of the practical actions derive from UN principles for older persons, of which previous speakers have, thankfully, reminded us.

I thank those who tabled the motion. I do not suppose anybody will vote against it. We all support it, but it is a question of how we put it into practice.