Elderly security scheme to be restored

THOUSANDS of elderly people blocked from accessing a vital government elderly person security scheme “suspended” as part of the budget will receive the care they need from September, it has been confirmed.

As part of Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s latest budget attempt this month, the Department of Rural, Community and Gaeltacht Affairs was asked to “temporarily suspend” its Community Support for Older People programme in an attempt to slash Exchequer spending.

The scheme, which has been in place since 1996, provides monitored personal security alarms, door locks, home-help services, meals on wheels, and security lighting to vulnerable people every year, with more than 80,000 benefiting from the service since it was introduced.