Older & Bolder closed June 2013 This is an archived website
2012
IMPACT OF PROPERTY TAX ON OLDER PEOPLE [14/12/12}
Members of the Older & Bolder alliance are calling for the fair implementation of the property tax. The legislation before the Oireachtas today should take account of an individual’s ability to pay. This is a principle that applies to all age groups but we in Older & Bolder are particularly concerned about older people who own their own homes, who are now on low, fixed incomes and who are confronted with a new tax that takes no account of their circumstances.
DEMOCRATIC ACTION PREVENTS €5 MILLION HOME CARE CUT
HOME-HELP HOURS TO BE RESTORED TO 2012 LEVELS
Responding to Minister Reilly’s announcement yesterday, Director of Older & Bolder, Patricia Conboy said, “Due to consistent democratic action by older people €3 million rather than the planned €8 million was cut from the home-help budget for 2012. While this will provide little comfort to those who, due to the €3 million cuts implemented, have lost vital home help hours we know that without concerted campaigning a further €5 million, equivalent to 300,000 hours, would have been cut.”
No Country to be Old and Sick
Older & Bolder is alarmed at the changes in medical card eligibility criteria announced as part of Budget 2013.
Charites Unite to Call for Plan to Sustain Public Services [20 November 2012]
Joint Press Statement: 20 November 2012
Issued on behalf of The Wheel, Disability Federation of Ireland, Carers Association, Irish Rural Link, Carmichael Centre for Voluntary Groups, National Youth Council of Ireland and Older & Bolder.
Older & Bolder Stands in Solidarity with Alliance and calls for YES VOTE [08/11/12]
Older & Bolder, which champions the rights of all older people, is today standing in solidarity with the Children's Rights Alliance in calling for a strong YES vote in the Children’s Referendum on Saturday 10 November. Both organisations seek to highlight the challenges facing children and older people in living their lives with the dignity and rights that they deserve. Niamh Walker, a grandmother and advocate for Older & Bolder, and Megan Smith a young person from Foróige, speak personally about why they are advocating for a YES vote.
Holding TDs accountable on Home Care cuts [06/11/12]
Older & Bolder’s campaign for the reversal of cuts to Home Care services is being stepped up today with the launch of an online tool directly linking TDs and their constituents. Recently, Government TDs voted down a motion to reverse cuts to Home Help and Home Care Packages. Visitors to the campaign website will be able find out how the TDs that represent them and their constituency have actually voted on this vital issue.
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.
Older & Bolder at gates of Leinster House Thursday 18th October at 12 noon [12/10/2012]
Older & Bolder will, next Thursday October 18th, at the gates of Dáil Éireann, present signatures to a petition calling for the immediate reversal of cuts to Home Help and Home Care Packages.
Home Help cuts will devastate the prospect of safe ageing at home [5/10/12]
The HSE cuts to home help hours are illogical and untenable. 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.
Not only are the cuts themselves a backwards step in terms of safe and healthy ageing, they also make no sense from an administrative or care management perspective.
NAILING THE MYTH THAT OLDER PEOPLE HAVE BEEN IMMUNE FROM CUTS [15/09/2012]
The myth that older people have been immune from cuts and have escaped the burden of rising costs during the economic crisis must be nailed for once and for all.
WHAT IS GOING ON? MORE CONFUSION ABOUT CUTS TO HOME CARE SERVICES [06/09/2012]
Uncertainty and lack of clarity continue to be the order of the day for recipients of HSE Home Care services. Following a statement issued today on behalf of Minister for Health, James Reilly TD, there is more confusion about the status of Home Help services and Home Care packages.
Questions need to be answered by Minister Reilly [05/09/2012]
What people using the HSE services of Personal Assistant, Home Help and Home Care Packages need now is clarity and certainty. Older & Bolder congratulates our colleagues in the disability movement on their successful campaign for a reversal of the decision to cut Personal Assistant Hours and stands with them in their determination to achieve clarity and certainty about how this reversal will be funded.
Vulnerable people deserve better [040912]
The Government’s decision today to reverse cuts to Personal Assistant hours for people with a disability is only a partial response to the distress inflicted on vulnerable people by promised cuts to Home Care services. Older & Bolder repeats our call tonight for a reversal of the decision to cut Home Help services and Home Care Packages which benefit older people, children with life limiting illnesses and people with disabilities who need home care services.
Urgent meeting with Tánaiste to Reverse Cuts [310812]
Older & Bolder has requested as a matter of urgency a meeting with the Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.
Older & Bolder welcomes the Tánaiste's public naming of the HSE cuts as ‘regrettable’ and we urge him to translate his misgivings into action. Older and Bolder is calling for the immediate reversal of the cuts and is looking to have an urgent meeting with the Tánaiste to this effect.
Call for Minister Reilly to reverse cuts to Home Care services [310812]
Older & Bolder is calling on Minister James Reilly TD to reverse the cuts to Home Care Services announced yesterday by the HSE.
Ms. Patricia Conboy, Director of Older & Bolder said: “We want to remind Minister Reilly of his own words in opposition in 2010 when he highlighted what was wrong with the HSE approach to cost-cutting. It was, he said, ‘the lazy, easy way out to hit frontline services and hurt patients rather than find the necessary savings within waste and inefficiencies at the HSE’.
HSE CUTS ATTACK THE OLD, YOUNG AND DISABLED PEOPLE IN THEIR OWN HOMES [300812]
The cuts to Home Care services announced by the HSE today are truly shocking and tantamount to turning off the life support machine on services which were already thinly spread.
Minister finally goes on record with commitment on National Positive Ageing Strategy
Minister Kathleen Lynch TD finally went on the record today with a commitment in the Seanad to publish the National Positive Ageing Strategy during 2012, the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.
Minister must inform older people of radical changes to State Pension [18/04/12]
Older & Bolder today called on Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton to launch a public awareness campaign to highlight radical changes to the Contributory State pension linked to the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill commencing in the Dáil this week.
While the changes to qualifying contributions will affect some people from as early as this year, so far the complicated changes have not been clearly highlighted to citizens.
Older & Bolder welcomes Seanad recommendations on the rights of older people [28/03/12]
Older & Bolder today welcomes calls from the Seanad to bolster the rights of older people.
The Report on the Rights of Older People published today by the Seanad Public Consultation committee calls for wide-ranging legal amendments and makes recommendations that could really make a difference to the quality of older people’s lives.
Minister Lynch must reassure older people living under threat of more cut-backs [5/3/2012]
Older & Bolder today called on Kathleen Lynch TD, the Minister with responsibility for older people to reassure people following suggestions from the IMF that vital supports for pensioners should be cut.
“Older people are now living under the threat of cuts to vital benefits like free travel, medical cards and the State Pension after the International Monetary Fund identified such measures,” Patricia Conboy, director of Older & Bolder said today.
Courting hearts and minds [14/02/12]
The President Michael D Higgins is today attending a seminar hosted by Older & Bolder to celebrate the links between young and old. In an inter-generational show of solidarity young students meet with Older & Bolder activists to discuss how strong connections between the generations can create a stronger society.
Patricia Conboy, Director of Older and Bolder said people of all ages now need to make their voices heard about the sort of society we want to create.
Caught in the Web [07/02/12]
An Older & Bolder report on older people’s battle with bureaucracy
The Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly today launched ‘Caught in the Web’ - an Older & Bolder report which shines a spotlight on the difficulties older people have in accessing vital information about access to public services.
Older & Bolder calls on Government to act on Law Reform Commission recommendations
Older & Bolder today calls for the implementation of the Law Reform Commission recommendations on professional home care and for a wider public debate on long-term care.
Patricia Conboy, Director of Older & Bolder said,
“We welcome the Law Reform Commission report which takes a holistic and person-centred view of the care of older people.
Older people's saftey at risk
Home Help services will be on life support
Older & Bolder is deeply worried about health cuts and the damaging effects these will have on older people’s health and safety.
Awaiting the publication of the HSE Service Plan serious and profound questions need to be answered
Older & Bolder welcomes the imminent publication of the HSE Service Plan as the delay has led to anxiety amongst those who may bear the brunt of proposed cuts. While welcoming the reported ‘ring fenced’ funding of primary and community care services, serious questions need to be answered about the reported closure of up to 600 public beds.
Older & Bolder warns of serious consequences for older people if community services suffer further cuts [13/01/2012]
There is no doubt this country is experiencing historically difficult financial times but Older & Bolder stress that the response to this crisis must never be one of expediency and those who are most vulnerable must not be made to pay for the country’s debts.
