Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour)
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569. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide assurances that funding will be maintained for the seniors alert scheme which provides safety and security to vulnerable person living in the community, at a nominal monitoring charge; his views on extending the scheme to include assistive technology devices such as motion sensors, GPS tracking devices, etc, which will provide additional security for persons who have physical or cognitive difficulties and are living at home. [32797/15]

Ann Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
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My Department is responsible for the Seniors Alert Scheme which encourages community support for vulnerable older people in our communities by providing funding for the purchase and installation of personal monitored alarms to enable older persons, of limited means, to continue to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind. The monitoring costs (generally between €60 - €80 per annum) are not funded under the Scheme and are borne by the beneficiary. The scheme is administered by local community and voluntary groups with the support of Pobal. Pobal’s management and administrative services for the Scheme included an invitation to tender for the supply and installation of personal monitored alarms. The tender process, which was led by Pobal, is now complete. The tender included a requirement for suppliers to set out their value added services, including the supply of smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms and any other security devices. Following on from this, a panel of regional suppliers have now been contracted to provide base units, which can be landline or GSM, and pendants.

My Department will, over the coming months, examine options to provide additional security devices under the scheme. In the meantime, Pobal is in the process of introducing the local community and voluntary groups to a new service model for the scheme. This will reduce the administrative burden on groups so that they are free to focus on engaging with the older people in the community.

The funding allocated for the Seniors Alert Scheme in 2015 was €2.35m and this allocation is sufficient to meet current demands on this very worthwhile scheme.