Vol. 463 No. 4
86 Mr. Dempsey asked the Minister for Finance the action, if any, he will take to assist those most at risk by diverting some of the national lottery funding into providing or, at least, subsidising special victim support telephones for the elderly in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6665/96]
There are no plans at present that national lottery funding should be applied for expenditure of the kind referred to by the Deputy.
However, the Deputy will be aware that the report of the Task Force on Security for the Elderly was published last week by my colleague, the Minister for Social Welfare. Arising from the recommendations in this report, the Government has approved a £6.5 million package of security oriented measures for the elderly living alone. This is in addition to the £1.5 million tax relief initiative I announced in the budget to assist elderly people living alone to purchase alarm systems for their homes.
Among the range of initiatives being implemented are the availability of £2 million in grants this year from the Department of Social Welfare to voluntary groups to support the installation of security equipment in the homes of elderly people living alone and the provision of £1 million under that Department's free telephone rental allowance scheme to meet the expected increased demand for telephones.
The Government is satisfied that implementation of the recommendations of the task force report will significantly contribute to the improvement of the security of elderly people who reside alone and also lead to greater peace of mind among this group.
