Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and wish her every success. I had the pleasure of working with her on the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health for five years and I certainly learned a lot from working with her. I look forward to working with her in her new role as Minister. I thank Senator O'Donnell and all who have helped her in producing this publication. There is a lot of research in it and it is a super publication in that it sets out a range of extremely important ideas. As Emily Dickinson wrote:

Because I could not stop for Death -

He kindly stopped for me -

The Carriage held but just Ourselves -

And Immortality.

We need to look at the challenges we now face in this country. Death affects people of all ages, from as young as a day old to as old as 102 or 103. The one challenge we have is that, at present, there are over 600,000 people over 65 in Ireland. Within ten years there will be 1 million such individuals.That is the challenge we now face.

The level of support for old people are not the same as they were before. Families are smaller and many families have emigrated, leaving their parents at home. I know of a lady aged in her 90s who has lived in the same house since 1959. Her son and daughter work in the UK and are now retired. She is selling her house in order to move to England because that is the only way she can access the services she wants and have the support of her family. She could not expect her son and daughter, who have been working in England for over 40 years, to return to Ireland to look after her in her final years of life. That is the challenge she faces.

The report raises many issues, such as the living alone allowance. I was in a house in a rural area recently. I spoke to a man who, when his wife was alive, received a pension of over €400 a week, but when she died the payment was reduced to €240 a week. It is a significant amount of money, but those living in urban areas have access to bus services which makes things slightly easier. Those living in rural areas with no access to public transport are dependent on neighbours and friends to provide transport to shops, doctors and hospitals. That is the challenge faced by this man. The cost of heating his house has not changed since the death of his wife. The cost of food has not significantly changed. He lives on a narrow road on which only one vehicle can travel. If one met an ongoing vehicle one would have to pull in. There is no public transport. That is the challenge in rural areas.

I recently spoke to someone who is working with a farming organisation. She calls into farms to help them comply with safety regulations. She was amazed at the number of farmers to whom she called who have been living on their own for quite a number of years. When one is working on a farm and living alone, one does not necessarily have the same level of contact because one is occupied with the work one is doing. She came across people in their aged 70s and 80s who are still working. Rural areas need supports for people who want to continue to live and work there. The report highlights a number of key issues in that regard.

I met Senator O'Donnell when she was preparing this report. She is involved with me on the Bill relating to missing persons. The State could take immediate action. If a person goes missing, and the body is not found families cannot get a death certificate and face significant problems with simple things. There was a tragedy off the west coast in the past few months. The families faced face major obstacles in trying to access the supports to which they are entitled.

I met a gentleman whose daughter went missing over two and a half years ago. Her car and clothes were found near a beach, but her body was not found and a death certificate has not been issued. He is facing major challenges and wants closure. We can bring closure to such cases through the missing persons Bill. That man would be entitled to go to the courts and apply for a presumption of death order because all of the evidence indicates that the person who is missing has died. Such a system has operated in Scotland for the past ten years. Only five applications a year are made in Scotland, but they are important for the people affected because they want closure.

As a solicitor I deal with wills. People sometimes take short cuts or no cuts at all. For example, a will was made by a person who owned a farm in Ireland and house in England. He owned the farm in Ireland because the person who was going to run it had a drink problem. The parents did not leave the farm to the son who was running the farm but instead gave it to a daughter who was teaching in England. She died and the question of the location of the will and who should continue to work the farm arose. We could not find a will, but found a carbon copy of a will in an old handbag in a wardrobe in a house in England. I spent four days in the High Court trying to get the will approved. They are the kind of things we deal with in respect of planning, wills and administration.

Some people want to leave things until tomorrow, but tomorrow may come far more quickly than they think. We do not do enough to advise people. The great thing about wills is that one can write them today and change them tomorrow. We need to provide more information on wills.

I refer to planning for housing. One area I represent is the north side of Cork city where great estates were built. Every house has five, six or seven steps. That was fine when people first moved to the houses when they were young, but they are now aged in their 70s and 80s and it is impossible to install wheelchair ramps. We need proper planning. We plan for people aged 25, 30 and 35 years, but we are not planning for when they are aged 70 or 80 and want to stay in the same house.

The report has highlighted a significant number of issues which would not be costly to implement but could improve people's lives substantially. We face major challenges in terms of making sure an adequate number of people are available to provide home support. Of a cohort of more than 600,000, more than 23,500 are in the fair deal scheme . The same ratio would mean 40,000 people would be nursing homes in ten years time. We need to plan for that because if 40,000 people do not want to be in nursing homes in ten years time we needed to make sure there is enough support at local and community level to ensure people can continue to live in their homes.

I again thank Senator O'Donnell for bringing forward the report and all of those involved in it. It has made a significant contribution to the debate and I hope each Government Department will examine it carefully and bring about the changes that are required.