Irish Examiner view: Support needed for the most vulnerable in society

Volunteers working say they often see “a complete lack of family support” in the lives of older people.

'There are over 1m people over the age of 60 in Ireland today, most of whom do not have access to representative bodies or State resolution mechanisms,' says Age Ireland's Celine Clarke.

In the same week as the Cloneen tragedy, worrying insight was provided by a group of volunteers after an HSE report recorded 1,583 reports of abuse against adults aged 18-64 made in 2021 in Cork and Kerry, compared to 1,342 in 2020.

Some 218 of those reports alleged abuse against people over 80. In total, over 550 allegations of ill-treatment involving people over 65 were made to safeguarding teams last year.