Plan needed to protect vulnerable in difficult times
Issued : Friday 27 March, 2009
Statement by Jack Wall TD
As each of us plan together over this very important weekend the Labour Party strategy for the next year and beyond I ask that you place high upon that agenda those least well off in our society.
As we face into the worst crisis that the modern day world has ever encountered I believe that a proper plan, must be put in place, to ensure that those most vulnerable in our community be it rural or urban, are protected.
Being less well off in society may actually effect people and communities in different ways and from different perspectives. It may be financial difficulties; it may be loneliness, it may be isolation, it may be lack of facilities, it may be lack of linkage with the outside world, it may be poor housing conditions, it may be safety and security and I could go on and on. I ask that you consider each aspect in its own right and I ask that in your own constituency be it an urban or rural base you seek to establish the extent of the problems that effects your community that I speak about and thus, that we as a party can prepare and collate on your evidence a policy of today's problems as a matter of urgency.
Age Action Ireland in their excellent and detailed pre-budget submission states: "There are certain vulnerable groups of older people who cannot give any more and who should be protected from further cuts. These are the chronically ill, those on low incomes ,those living alone, those currently struggling to heat their homes, the isolated who live in areas without public transport, and the frail who need some support to enable them to remain living in their own homes".
We have 500,000 people approximately residing in this country who are over 65 years, of whom 121,157 reside alone.
Thus one can easily conclude that the problems, already mentioned, be it in the Age Action budget report or my own assessment, are having major significance in the daily lives of many senior citizens. Two such matters that could easily be addressed by Government if there was a will to do so, unfortunately there is not the feeling within its ranks at present to do so I believe.
Local authorities are strapped of funding at this moment and time in regard to grants that will permit senior citizens to have an acceptable standard of living in their own homes. In my own local authority area, Kildare County Council are committed to grants with a valuation of €3m and they have extra applications with a value of €5m on their books. Despite numerous Parliamentary Questions the Minister for the Environment has not as yet committed funding to the authority. This of course has a double negative effect.
First, the effect it has on the applicant of having a reasonable expectation of a decent standard of living; and second, the negative effect it is having on the building industry due to the loss of employment opportunities. Surely the Government can see that such funding will create satisfaction on two fronts? With a special emphasis on employment in the hard pressed building industry.
Safety and security are two items that effect the most vulnerable in Society that we speak about and we must address those as a matter of urgency. Whilst personal alarms are available and welcomed, one cannot but be concerned that the senior citizen is still a very vulnerable person in their own home and there is an urgent need for the supply of house alarms to be supplied and fitted again given security to the recipient as well as creating employment opportunities in the electrical trade.
These are but two of the problems many problems that need to be addressed but we as a Party must seek to build on our own principles as expressed in our excellent document "An Aging Friendly Society" and I believe that within the Party, we can create a platform to address the concerns as mentioned and the many others, that your research will produce in the ongoing battle that is necessary to ensure that those less well off in Society, be it from whatever perspective, is not forgotten.
In doing so, we tonight call on the Minister to produce a white paper on community life and its activities within his brief to commence a national debate on the issue.
