Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 November 2006
363 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs if he will remove the need for old age pensioners to pay a yearly fee for the provision of the safe and sound home security system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40038/06]
Amharc ar fhreagraI presume the Deputy is referring to socially monitored alarms, the provision of which to older people is managed by local community and voluntary groups with the support of my Department, under the Scheme of Community Support for Older People.
A maximum individual grant of €300 is provided by my Department to community groups under the Scheme in respect of the once-off installation cost of socially monitored alarms. The ongoing monitoring costs that usually arise with such alarms are charged by the private commercial suppliers engaged by the community groups. I understand these costs are of the order of €80 per annum per individual and, given that the Scheme has benefited as many as 100,000 older people, the cost to my Department of providing funding for all such monitoring costs would be considerable.
It is my view that the available resources are better spent on continuing to improve the security of older people in their homes rather than paying for ongoing running costs and, accordingly, I have no plans at present to introduce a subsidy in regard to the monitoring costs for socially-monitored alarm systems.
