More pensioners than ever applying for personal security devices

A record number of pensioners are seeking potentially lifesaving monitored personal alarms under the State’s seniors alert scheme.

Information provided by the Department of the Environment shows that last year, more than 10,000 people received the partly-funded security equipment under the scheme.

It follows a spate of high-profile attacks on elderly people, including a spate of attacks on the home of pensioner farmer Michael McMahon in Co Clare two years ago, and a raid on the home of 78-year-old Phyllis McGee in Co Donegal last year. Mr McMahon fled his home shortly after a robbery and has not been back.

Ms McGee used such a device to raise the alarm following the attack, and Eamon Timmins of Age Action said such incidents raised people’s awareness of the alarms.

The numbers seeking the devices — monitored alarms with pendant, with money also available for extra pendants or re-installation — has steadily risen. In 2011, there were 7,910 beneficiaries of the scheme and in 2012, 9,142 people availed of it. However, while 10,597 people used the scheme last year, the amount spent actually fell to €2.32m compared with €2.52m in 2012.

The scrapping of the monthly phone allowance raised questions over the continuing cost faced by pensioners with alarms that function off a landline. Environment Minister Phil Hogan said last October that funds would be made available for security alert systems following the abolition of the phone allowance, and yesterday Mr Timmins said there was no evidence pensioners were not applying for the pendants because of the increased cost of maintaining a home phone. “They are retaining the landline and paying the extra,” he said, adding that in some cases, it meant “cutting back” in other areas, such as food, to ensure people can keep operating the devices.

The alert scheme is open to people 65 years and over, who are living alone or with another eligible person and have genuine need for assistance.

The maximum grant per beneficiary is €250 for the monitored personal alarm, and €50 for additional pedants or reinstallation.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said that since 2004, more than 80,000 people have benefited from it.

“Applications were only approved for personal monitored alarms connected to a landline up to Oct 2013. Personal monitored alarms are now available using mobile technology and these alternative systems may also be funded at a similar rate when the sponsoring Community Group are satisfied that they meet the requirements of the beneficiary.”