The safety of vulnerable elderly people in their own homes is being put at risk by massive cuts in the funding allocated under the Community Support for Older People Scheme; cuts to the Garda budget; the continued downgrading of rural Garda stations; and a minuscule allocation of community gardaí, according to Fine Gael’s Michael Ring.
Aggravated burglaries have surged according to the last CSO figures and a number of vicious attacks on elderly people have taken place during burglaries.
“Despite an obvious and urgent need to take a range of steps to protect older people from burglaries the Government has responded by actually cutting important services,” Deputy Ring criticised.
“A glance at the grants allocated under the Community Support for Older Persons Scheme in 2009 shows a huge reduction from 2008. In Mayo there was a 55 per cent reduction in the grants allocated in 2009 as compared with 2008 (grants allocated in 2008 were €177,733 and in 2009 were €79,845 ). Given that the purpose of this scheme is to enhance the safety of vulnerable elderly people though providing panic alarms, window and door security advices, exterior lighting, etc, it is scandalous to cut allocations at a time of rising burglaries,” he added.
Fine Gael is demanding a debate on elderly people and crime in the Dáil and the opposition party is calling on the Government to take a range of measures including: 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 enhance and develop the Garda Community Safety Week initiative.
“In 2009 only a single week of initiatives has been dedicated to the safety of the elderly. However, the aggravated burglary statistics show there is a need for a comprehensive Garda campaign aimed at increasing the safety precautions taken by elderly people. In the longer term, I am calling on Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern to dramatically increase the number of community gardaí and address the fact that the vast majority of Garda stations in this State are only open for a few hours a day.
“Fine Gael wants Minister Ahern to respond to the steep rise in aggravated burglaries with a range of measures and we will be putting down a motion for a Dáil debate on the elderly and crime,” concluded Dep Ring.
