Press Release

(30 July 2020) 

Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation on ageing and older people is calling for Budget 2021 to include a digital allowance in the form of a €2.50 increase to the Telephone Support Allowance and a broadening of the eligibility criteria to support older people to access digital technology.

Paddy Connolly, CEO Age Action said ‘Digital exclusion is a reality for at least 33% of people over the age of 65 with the associated cost being one of the barriers to access for older people. We know that communication costs have increased during COVID-19 as people became more reliant on digital communications as a means of communicating with family, health professionals, arranging essential services and addressing social isolation.  In the context of an increasing reliance on telehealth measures and public health advice, Age Action urges the Government to increase the Telephone Support Allowance, introduced in June 2018 at a weekly rate of €2.50, to €5 and for a broadening of the eligibility criteria which is narrowly confined to those getting the Living Alone Allowance who are also eligible for the Fuel Allowance.’

Government services now actively prefer transactions to be digital under a “Digital First”approach, encouraging people to carry out their tax returns, and apply to r enew their driving licences and passports online. The Public Service ICT Strategy prioritises the digitisation of ‘the main existing citizen and business transactional services across Public Services’. There is an increasing reliance on digital channels to provide information by both the public and private sector which undermines people’s ability to access information which was very evident during the height of the pandemic. In a recent CSO survey of households of those over 60 and not online, the second greatest challenge to people who said they needed access to broadband, after lack of digital skills, was the perceived prohibitive cost.

‘Older people are being left behind because they do not have adequate access or skills to engage with digital services or participate in the digital economy; providing a digital allowance as well as investing in one-to-one digital literacy training that meets the needs of older people, is critical to bridging the digital divide. The new National Digital Skills Strategy committed to under the Programme for Government will have budgetary implications; Budget 2021 should begin to support older people to keep up’ Connolly said.

(24 July) The Alliance of Age Sector NGOs - Active Retirement Ireland, Age Action, Age & Opportunity, ALONE, The Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Third Age and the Irish Hospice Foundation - welcomes and supports the call by the Irish Hospice Foundation for Government to put in place a process of remembrance and reflection  to recognise those who have died or have lost loved ones in recent months during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. This call from the Alliance demonstrates that there is broad national support for a series of events to support the loved ones of those who have died and to mark a period of national mourning.

Thank you all for your patience during the last number of months and for your understanding that due to the COVID-19 crisis we were not in a position to hold the Easter Raffle. Today, we were finally able to do the draw and we list below the lucky winners.

We wish the winners well and trust they will have a happy time spending their winnings. It certainly brightened up their day when we told them earlier. Thanks again to all those who entered as all proceeds from the raffle will help us to continue to provide much needed services to older people over the coming months.

1st Prize - €1500 - S.Hannon, Dublin

2nd Prize - €1000 - M.White, Galway

3rd Prize - €500 - A. Landy, Cork

Sellers Prize - €100 - R.Flynn, Roscommon

(Wednesday 16 June) The deferral of the pension age increase to 67 contained in the Programme for Government has been welcomed by the Stop67 campaign.

Ethel Buckley, Deputy General Secretary of SIPTU said: “During the recent general election there was widespread opposition to the proposed increase in the pension age.  Almost 80 per cent of voters supported parties which were committed to stopping the increase in the pension age to 67 next year.  The vindication of this democratic demand in the proposed Programme for Government is welcomed. It is only through genuine social dialogue and consensus that we can develop a socially beneficial and fiscally sustainable pension system.”

Age Action welcomes relaxation of some cocooning measures but criticises lack of consultation with older people.

(1 May) Age Action called for the Government to consult with older people as it plans for the longer-term impacts of Covid-19. To date, public health and Government advice has treated the over 70 age cohort as one. As a single age cohort people over the age of 70 have been subject to public health measures but not enabled to participate in the decision-making process that would ensure that their lived experience and their self-identified needs informs the outcome.

Connect, Inform, Support

Age Action launches the Getting Started KIT Programme

Supporting Digital Literacy Skills Amongst Older People

(Tuesday 28 April) Getting Started Keep In Touch (KIT), a national learning initiative to help older people improve their digital literacy skills was launched today by Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people. The Age Action Getting Started KIT is a series of  NALA approved How To KIT Guides and a video tutorial presented by Mary Kennedy, to help older people to use a smartphone, or other device, to get online so they are more connected, informed and supported particularly those people over the age of 70 that have been asked to stay at home as part of the Covid-19 response measures.

The Irish Red Cross and Age Action today welcomed RTÉ correspondent Fergal Bowers’ COVAID initiative as a huge boost to their Hardship Fund. Reporting an unprecedented level of interest in the fund, they said the fund would otherwise struggle to meet the level of need being expressed.

The Hardship Fund, which was set up in a partnership with the Irish Red Cross and Age Action, was put in place to help older, vulnerable people who had been experiencing additional financial burden due to the Covid-19 crisis. Over €25,000 from the fund has already been allocated to applicants.

(18 April) The Alliance of Age Sector NGOs wish to acknowledge the care being given to our nursing home residents during the Covid-19 pandemic, and to call for equal access to appropriate treatment options for all older people guided by the principles within the Ethical Framework for Decision-Making in a Pandemic (Department of Health 2020).

Age alone should never be a barrier to realising one’s right to health.  In its position adopted on 3rd April 2020, Alzheimer Europe considers it unacceptable to systematically restrict access to ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, or people living in nursing homes.

(16 April) Active Retirement Ireland and Age Action have responded to a framework document published by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil with disappointment at the lack of commitments to older people and our ageing population. The document, which will inform coalition talks between the two political parties and potential coalition partners, was published yesterday and both NGOs have expressed concern that older people are being “largely ignored”.

(14 April 2020) Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people, today called on the Minister for Health to ensure there is a nationally coordinated response to manage the impact of COVID-19 on home care provision.

It is expected that up to 3,000 home care workers may be deployed to nursing home settings in the coming weeks to support the COVID-19 response measures which means that some people are being told that their home supports are being reduced or suspended.