The facts of the case speak for themselves. Why is Ireland the worst country in Europe, not from a financial or an economic point of view but from a social welfare point of view? We have this outrageous performance of the galoots of the Fianna Fáil Party being sent in here to try to prevent a reasoned, sensible discussion on the plight of the old age pensioners. This is just an indication of their whole attitude which is one of trying to collect votes by seeing how little they must give to hold on to power and not how much they should give to relieve the abject misery, the loneliness and the ill-health of old people. If we could bring that discussion to the sensible level on which it should be discussed then by pooling our resources we might be able to do something for the care of our aged who are more deserving of the help of the community.
We are asking not only for an improvement in the financial level of assistance, which is important, but we are also asking for a substantial improvement in the provision of home help and meal services. These are the kind of services which could do a great deal more for old age pensioners than even nominal yearly increases in the financial allowances given to them, because many elderly people are incapable of spending the money they get, incapable of spending it in a way beneficial to themselves.
What these people require in many cases is the advice and assistance of people who could bring to them benefits which their monetary allowance would not allow them to purchase for themselves. We ask the Government to make a special effort, with massive contributions, to support the innumerable voluntary organisations which are prepared to give of their charity, their time and their energy but who are unable to give the necessary help without financial assistance. We should ensure that the people who are charitably disposed and who are prepared to help our senior citizens should be able to devote their energy and their time to this end and that they should not be required, as they are at present, to go begging in the streets, running a series of raffles and other money gathering operations in order to bring vital assistance to elderly people in our community. What we should do is subsidise these voluntary services with all the financial aid which is necessary to match their effort in order to give a worthwhile service.
We are lucky in a number of areas in Dublin and in Dún Laoghaire in having very useful and very beneficial organisations which provide meals on wheels and home care but so far we are only scratching the surface. We need to do a great deal more if we are to help our people adequately. Fine Gael believe that we have a humanitarian obligation to do this which overrules any monetary disadvantage or any financial embarrassment which any of these things might involve for the Government of the day. In case that argument is not persuasive enough we believe we should appreciate that by the provision of adequate home meals and meal services, by the provision of domiciliary care, by the provision of home visitors, a community can keep their elder citizens in good health without sending them into costly institutions. One pound invested in home help or in meals services will yield many pounds profit by reason of the reduction which would be brought about in institutional care.
We have more of our elder citizens in institutions than any other country in Europe. We have, admittedly, a higher percentage of elder citizens because of our very high emigration rate of able-bodied people some of whom in their closing years return to Ireland, but even allowing for any discrepancy which there may be in the relationship between elder citizens and the rest of the community we still have a much higher percentage of elderly people in institutions. This is indicative of the fact that our old age pensioners are suffering real hardship and because they have not sufficient to maintain themselves with an adequate diet and ample clothing they fall into ill-health and have to receive care in institutions.
I believe that the Department of Social Welfare have moved in the right direction in recent times in that they have provided worthwhile fringe benefits not only in relation to the provision of meals on wheels and so on but in regard to free travel and free electricity. These benefits have been of immense value. A case comes to my mind as I speak of a lady who is not eligible for the non-contributory pension because she has some small investments, the value of which, of course, is depreciating each year. Her plea is that she be given not a pension, which she is not seeking because her income is just above making her eligible, but that she be given free travel. She says, and I believe she is right, that her ability to travel to see her relatives and friends is what is keeping her going. She is 74 years of age and she still rides a bicycle from Rathmines to Glasnevin twice a week. She says that her capacity to do this cannot last much longer. This unfortunate lady is then likely to degenerate into little more than a vegetable and she will be confined to her one room in Rathmines as she has not the income to pay for bus fares twice a week. This is an illustration of the kind of assistance we should be giving to these people in order to allow them to lead a full life and relieve their misery and their loneliness.
Loneliness is one of the greatest problems and one of the prime factors which contribute to the disintegration of people in old age. Loneliness leads to a whole host of problems. We commend this motion to Dáil Éireann and we ask the House to concern itself with the plight of old age pensioners. This is something which nobody in his sane moments is going to dispute and we anticipate that we will get the unanimous support of the House for this motion. That is all we ask, to help these old age pensioners, particularly those living on their own, with substantial improvements and with the various fringe benefits that could be given to them to maintain them as useful citizens.
