Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

I will make a couple of points. On behalf of the committee, I thank the witnesses for their submissions and the work ALONE does on behalf of the 36,000 older people it supports to age at home through the whole concept of independent living. I congratulate ALONE on its initiative in relation to a loneliness task force and pulling together a coalition. This is very important work. While we talk about charters of rights for people, older people probably need a charter of rights. I look forward to engaging with ALONE at some stage on how that could be pulled together. That would be a really important step forward. The point was made that, thankfully, people are living longer but there are responsibilities in relation to that right across Departments. There are also societal responsibilities. If we signed up to such a charter, it might be much easier to move forward.

The opening statement noted that home support services operate mainly on trust and there no regulations, standards or independent oversight and very little data so any progress is welcome. I made this point last week when the Department officials were before the committee. Why is there no regulation? Why are there no standards in this area? What is Mr. Moynihan's sense of why this has been left for so long? Is it because no one is speaking up for or advocating on behalf of older people? Is it just an oversight?