From the Home to the Dáil [18/10/2012]

Older & Bolder at gates of Leinster House Thursday 18th October at 12 noon

Older & Bolder are today, Thursday October 18th, at the gates of Dáil Éireann, presenting signatures to a petition to Government calling for the immediate reversal of cuts to Home Help and Home Care Packages. 

Director of Older & Bolder Patricia Conboy, said, “Those in receipt of home help services are small in number but their response to the cutting of vital supports is loud and clear. In the words of one Dublin woman, “I could not survive at home without home help because I have severe and very disabling arthritis. Any cuts to this service would put my health and safety in jeopardy. These are cuts too far”

Patricia Conboy continued, “For many people dependent on home care services, street protests are not an option. With that in mind we have designed our postcard petition campaign so that people can lobby their local TDs directly from their own home. On Thursday, we’ll bring the campaign from living rooms and kitchens of Ireland to Kildare Street. Outside the Dáil we will showcase the strong response to these distressing cuts so far – through constituency visits, petition signing and online action - by older people, their friends and families.”

Patricia Conboy concluded, “Today we are making it clear that the withdrawal of nearly 1 million home help hours will devastate the prospect of safe and healthy ageing at home. We are determined to resist these illogical cuts.

*****ENDS******

Notes to the Editor: 

• If these cuts go through, and when added to the cuts implemented in January, it will result in just under 1 million hours of home help support being withdrawn in this year alone. This will devastate the prospect of safe ageing at home.
• The HSE has pre-determined that €8 million will be cut from home help services before the end of the year. To say that the assessment process is based on ‘a review of individual needs’ is misleading at best. The outcome has been decided before the needs of any individual have been considered. 
• Only 3.5% of people over 50 receive state provided home help services. Source: The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), a large-scale, nationally representative study of people aged 50 and over in Ireland. More than 8,000 people participated in the first wave of TILDA interviews and first results were published in 2010
• The promotion of an age friendly and age inclusive society in Ireland is a core goal of Older & Bolder, an alliance of NGOs in the age sector.  The member organisations are: Active Retirement Ireland, Age & Opportunity, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Carers Association, Irish Hospice Foundation, Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, and Third Age/Senior Help Line