Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for his kind comments, which I appreciate because my Department is new and it underwent three moves of offices in the past year although we have a permanent office now. I have a fine team with a new Secretary General, three assistant secretaries and fantastic staff in Dublin and Ballina. I take this opportunity to thank them because they found it difficult that there were so many changes while we were expected to be a functioning Department, which we were. A fantastic Department is now up and running, and I thank the Senator for his comments and the staff for the great work they have done in difficult circumstances over the past 15 or 16 months. I am proud of how the Department was set up, and it recently won an award for a public library initiative it created. We do not often have the opportunity to thank our staff and, therefore, I am taking this one.

Following the relaunch of the seniors alert scheme in November 2017, which was accompanied by a major publicity campaign, the scheme has seen considerable growth over the past 12 months. The objective of the seniors alert scheme is to encourage community support for vulnerable older people in our communities through the provision of personal monitored alarms to enable persons over the age of 65 of limited means to continue to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind.

A significant change in the new version of the scheme is that users no longer have to live alone or with another qualifying person to qualify for the scheme. The criteria were widened to include elderly people who are not living on their own but may be alone for a substantial part of the day and elderly people who are primary carers for other people in their household. The issue of isolation, whether in urban or rural areas, should concern us all and I am committed to continuing my Department’s response to the issue through programmes such as the seniors alert scheme.

Funding is available under the scheme for the purchase of equipment, such as a personal alarm or a pendant, by a registered community or voluntary or not-for-profit organisation. All users have a base unit installed in their home which is connected to a national seniors alert scheme helpline using landline or mobile telecommunications. When the user activates the personalised alarm, it puts a call through to the national call centre, which is open 24-7, 365 days a year. The call centre operator talks to the person in his at her home and decides whether to alert a local volunteer responder or, in potentially serious circumstances, the emergency services.

Funding for this scheme is made available by my Department. The equipment is free for the end user although there is a small charge should the applicant require a SIM card for the mobile phone. Under the new scheme, free monitoring is provided for the first year of use and recipients are required to pay a modest annual charge for the second and subsequent years. At the end of 2017, just over 18,000 participants had been approved, while 601 community groups provided support. By the end of the third quarter in 2018, in excess of 35,000 participants were approved with 660 community groups providing support. This is strong evidence of the growth of this scheme, providing real support and peace of mind for elderly people in their communities.

The seniors alert scheme is a demand-led programme. My Department was allocated €2.3 million in 2018 to administer the scheme. As a result of the unprecedented increase in participants in the scheme, I was determined to secure additional funding from within the resources of the Department to ensure we continue to meet the surge in demand and that every single applicant was catered for. The amount spent on the seniors alert scheme for 2018 stands at €5.4 million, and I ensured we funded that money from our Department. Funding is being allocated from my Department for a further roll-out of the seniors alert scheme nationwide for 2019. As it is a demand-led scheme, I will closely monitor it with a view to ensuring funding will continue to be available to meet the demand.