Vol. 396 No. 4
10 Mr. Kavanagh asked the Minister for the Environment his views on whether the installation of burglar and fire alarm systems is desirable and essential in local authority one person dwellings; if he will instruct local authorities to include these alarms in all further new dwellings; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I fully support the provision of alarm systems in new local authority housing schemes for the elderly where they are judged to contribute to the security and welfare of the residents. It is now generally the standard practice of housing authorities to provide alarm systems suitable to the scheme in question. The question of security is essentially a matter for the authorities. I have already drawn their attention to the benefits of a smoke detector/fire alarm as an early warning system in the event of fire occurring and have recommended that all their tenants should be encouraged to install these inexpensive and potentially life saving devices.
These are nice words but given the fact that many of our senior citizens are living in fear, the Minister should go further.
Let us proceed by way of supplementary questions.
I would ask the Minister to make the necessary finance available not only in respect of new dwellings but for the existing tenants of local authorities throughout the country. Many of them are living in fear and the councils cannot proceed because they have not the finance. I am asking the Minister to give a commitment to make the necessary finance available.
Elderly people are not living in fear at all times and the Deputy should not say so. The practice of local authorities is to provide these facilities for the elderly in new housing schemes. My colleague, the Minister for Health, Deputy Rory O'Hanlon, stated in reply to a question on 21 February 1990 that the provision of home alarms is an option open to health boards to maintain an elderly person at home if such a person would otherwise require institutional care. That could be funded from the allocation of budget finance made available recently. There is progress in that area and I support the Deputy's point of view.
I take issue with the Minister to a certain extent. Obviously every senior citizen is not living in fear but there are quite a number——
I hesitate to continuously interrupt the Deputy but we must proceed by way of supplementary questions. Statements are out of order.
I would ask the Minister to have another look at the situation and make the necessary finance available to the local authorities to have these alarms installed.
I have told them that in new housing for the elderly they should include them.
Have they got the money to do it?
I would expect them to do so. The money is incorporated in the total funding of a particular scheme.
What about existing dwellings?
I am talking about new dwellings. As far as existing stock is concerned, that is purely a matter for housing authorities. I overheard a conversation on radio yesterday which indicated that we are talking about very small money per unit, something between £7 and £10. In fact, one very generous operative in town is supplying something between 10 and 100 of them free of charge as an experiment. There is good progress and a willingness to support the Deputy's point of view.
Notwithstanding the attractive price of the alarms, if a local authority make an application to the Minister for funding, where the local authority have a large number of such dwellings, would the Minister be disposed to making money available to that authority to fit them out with the alarms?
The installation of fire alarm systems in existing dwellings is normally the responsibility of the local authority.
Only when they have the money.
They have the money to do that kind of installation.
Will the Minister agree that it has not been the privilege of local authorities in recent years to build new units for senior citizens? Leaving that aside, burglar and fire alarms take second place to the warden system. Will the Minister make the necessary finance available to local authorities to employ wardens in senior citizen complexes?
That is a separate matter.
I would draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that there is a 50 per cent increase in the amount of money being allocated for social housing in 1990 as against 1989. Under the voluntary housing programme I have been pushing for the past couple of years it will stand at £9.3 million in 1990. Considerable progress has been made in the funding of the type of units the Deputy is talking about, a lot more than was made when the Deputy's party were in office.
Question No. 11, please.
There is still a major crisis.
I know there were economic difficulties to contend with at that time.
The Minister knows that there are no senior citizen houses being built at the moment.
There are no local authority houses at all being built.
The Minister is very economical with the truth.
Please let us proceed in an orderly fashion. The Minister to reply to Question No. 11 please.
