Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 269: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will review the €80 maintenance charge on the free alarm and security light scheme for needy elderly persons as it is preventing many elderly accessing the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17986/07]

Pat Carey (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Scheme of Community Support for Older People is administered by local community and voluntary groups with the support of my Department. The purpose of the Scheme is to assist and encourage the community's support for older people by means of a community based grant scheme. A maximum individual grant of €300 is provided under the Scheme in respect of the once-off installation cost of socially monitored alarms. The private commercial suppliers engaged by the community groups charge the ongoing monitoring costs that usually arise with such alarms. I understand these costs are of the order of €80 per annum per individual, which equates to approximately €1.50 per week. Given that the Scheme has benefited as many as 100,000 older people, the cost to my Department of providing funding for all such monitoring costs would be considerable. It is my view that the available resources are better spent on continuing to improve the security of older people in their homes rather than paying for ongoing running costs and, accordingly, I have no plans at present to introduce a subsidy in regard to the monitoring costs for socially-monitored alarm systems.