Age Action hits out at 'crazy' cut in funding for panic alarms
Age Action said today that elderly people are concerned about their safety following cuts to personal security alarm grants and Garda stations.
The Government is cutting funding for panic alarms from €2.45m to €1.15m.
Head of Advocacy with Age Action, Eamon Timmins, said that this, coupled with the decision to close a number of Garda stations around the country and remove community officers, has left elderly people worried about their safety.
He also described the decision to cut funding for panic alarms as "crazy":
"We'd also like to challenge why they're deciding now that they're only going to give an alarm to somebody who lives alone, rather than a couple that live together," he said.
"Certainly if there's two people in their 80s or 90s who are vulnerable and not very mobile, there's no reason why they should be denied an alarm just because there's two of them in the house.
"That means that somebody always has to be in the house with the other person at all times."
