Mayo Deputy Michael Ring, Fine Gael spokesperson for community, rural, and Gaeltacht affairs, has indicated that he and his colleague, Deputy Charles Flanagan, Fine Gael spokesperson for justice, equality, and law reform, intend to put down a private members’ motion in the Dáil regarding elderly people and crime.
The motion provides that Dáil Éireann notes with grave concern the 10 per cent increase in aggravated burglaries in the 12 month period ending June 2009; the recently widely reported targeting of vulnerable elderly residents in their own homes; the Government’s decision to suspend in April 2009 the Scheme of Community Support for Older People and to allow only 11 working days for applications during a brief revival of the scheme last month. This is despite the importance of the scheme in providing funds to local community and voluntary organisation to install personal monitored alarms and items of home security to enable older people live independently.
Other issues include the fact that only five per cent of the Garda force is made up of community gardaí; the continual downgrading and closure of rural Garda stations; and the consequent fear and anxiety that is keenly felt by elderly people living alone. Calls have been made on the Minister for Justice, Equality, and Law Reform to arrest the decline of policing services to rural communities, bring forward measures and incentives to facilitate a significant increase in the number of community gardaí, and to enhance and develop the Garda Community Safety Week initiative. The motion calls on the Minister for Community, Rural, and Gaeltacht Affairs to immediately reinstate the Scheme of Community Support for Older People.
Dep Ring and Dep Flanagan intend to put down this motion in the Dáil over the next number of weeks.
