Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs his views on introducing some measures for old age pensioners to alleviate the payment of an €80 annual monitoring fee for emergency alarms in view of the fact that some old aged pensioners with solely the pension as an income are finding it difficult to pay the €80 fee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25118/08]

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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Grants in respect of personal alarm systems are available for senior citizens as part of my Department's Scheme of Community Support for Older People. Local community and voluntary groups — with the support of my Department — administer the Scheme. Individual applicants must be 65 years of age or over and have a genuine need for the security equipment.

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 in excess of 100,000 older people to date, the Deputy will appreciate that the cost to my Department of providing funding for monitoring costs would be considerable. Accordingly, I have no plans, at present, to introduce such a subsidy.