Media and Campaigns

On this page, we share information about some of our current and ongoing campaigns to help elderly.

Please feel free to contact us if you would like more information, would like to share information, or would like to aid in any of the campaigns. 

• 15 February 2010  -  Friends of the Elderly warns against travel insurers making unjustified increases in their premiums based on age.

Friends of the Elderly has received calls from senior citizens who have had unexpected hikes in their travel insurance premium. One man was notified of a 50% rise on his 65th birthay. When he asked for a reason for the increase he was told that was had become a "greater statistical risk". Unless the medical condition of the applicant has changed there is no reason why an older person should be singled out as an increased risk" says Dermot Kirwan of Friends of the Elderly. "We want to hear from any senior citizens that have had an unexpected increase in any type of insurance  - health, home, car, travel etc..  www.friendsoftheelderly.ie    

•  14 February 2010  Friends of the Elderly welcomes Gay Byrne's support for the elderly. 

Veteran broadcaster 76 year old Gay Byrne has publicly voiced his concern for the elderly who have had their private pensions wiped out by the economic collapse. In The Irish Times Sat 13th Feb he said "..All the people of my age, all the grey-haired wrinklies of my age, we all had our little pensions aside. I had a long run of very good years, and I invested in absolutely watetight stuff : AIB, Anglo Irish and Guinness and various shares - all the stuff you were told that you couldn't go wrong. And that is all gone! It is wiped out. And it is the same all over the country for people of my age and older. We were never going to live like Tony O'Reilly, but we would have enough to get us through until we are all dead, and my sole worry is that Kathleen will have enough to see her through. But nobody has been made accountable, and we all thought we were paying these high flying guys enormous sums of money because they were experts, and now we know that they knew nothing more than we did. The situation is serious. I am frightened for people of my generation. They have introduced this constant, low-level anxiety into our lives, which we could well do without. It all hangs on a thread anyhow. There is no certainty in life, but the general situation is that people who felt they could settle back now find that they can't."  

• 12 February 2010  Friends of the Elderly calls for empty hotel rooms to be open to the elderly for short holidays

Friends of the Elderly are calling on the government to make the thousands of empty hotel rooms in Ireland available to the elderly so they can enjoy home holidays,escorted by Transition Year students.   
 
"There are 57,000 hotel rooms in Ireland" says Dermot Kirwan, spokesperson for Friends of the Elderly. "A quarter of them are empty all the time and the rest are empty half of the time. We have a plan that could fill all of them all of the time"
 
"There are 172,400 pensioners with a disability that limits their mobility and there are 30,000 Transition Year students who could take them on holiday in accordance with the Social Development and Community Care part of their Transition Year ."
 
"Failte Ireland; the Irish Hotel Federation and the Minister for Education Batt O'Keefe are already encouraging the 30,000 students that take part in the transition-year programme to opt for Irish locations for educational tours and learn more about their own country and support their own economy. The Government has adopted this proposal which came out of the Ideas Campaign last summer". 
 
 
"We are simply building on a good idea that has Cabinet approval. Our secondary schools are at the heart of most communities. What Friends of the Elderly is saying is that by focusing more on Service to the Community, transition year teachers could link up with community groups and parish councils adjacent to their schools and act as escorts for the elderly and take them on mid week hotel breaks".
 
"Any young person who spends time with an elderly person finds the experience rewarding and of course elderly people love the company of the young. We want the 30,000 transition year students to escort the elderly in their community on an Irish holiday rather that go abroad. Everyone will benefit from the experience; the students, the elderly and the Irish hotel sector. We want the Department of Education to contact the Irish Hotel Federation and negotiate a substantial Senior Citizens Group Discount. It is better to have a low room rate return that no room rate return, There are 480,000 pensioners out there, most of them have the Free Travel Pass and the time to avail of mid week deals".  
 
"If those with authority and influence can agree can get the transition year teachers to talk to hoteliers we could fill every hotel in Ireland, our transition students will be better people for the experience and our elderly will feel valued, cared for and have a lovely holiday " says Dermot. 

ends

• 7 September 09   Friends of the Elderly calls for the true cost of Home Conversion Grant cuts to be recognised

Friends of the Elderly has called on the Minister for the Environment to carry out a cost-benefit analysis on home conversion grant schemes. The call came after figures in The Irish Times showed a shortfall of at least €2 million in funding to local authorities for applications to the scheme. Many local authoritities have already spent or allocated their funding for 2009, and some have closed their application process. Many aplicants face waits of two years or more in some areas to carry out works such as widening of doors for wheelchair access, installing a downstairs bathroom or fitting walk-in showers. The Housing Adaptation Grant scheme, the Mobility Aid Grant scheme and the Housing Aid for Older People scheme are administered by local authorities and chiefly funded by the Department of the Environment. Dermot Kirwan, spokesman for Friends of the Elderly said "the backlog in the schemes has meant that elderly people are staying in hospital longer that necessary while waiting for the works to be carried out on their homes, this is a false economy. The average cost of a house adaptatioin grant for an elderly person is €1,200. It cost at least €1,000 a week to keep an elderly person in hospital".     

• 5 March 09 The Friends of the Elderly campaign to get taxi fare discount for senior citizens continues.

"There are 27,400 taxi licences in Ireland and there  are 480,000 pensioners in Ireland" says Dermot Kirwan, spokeperson of Friends of the Elderly. "There are thousands of taxis standing idle during off-peak times ( mid morning/mid afternoon), which is the time when most pensioners tend to travel into town. If taxi drivers would offer Senior Citizen discount during off-peak times there are many pensioners who would share a taxi into town occassionaly, rather that share a bus shelter. Surely it is preferable to take a reduced fare that no fare"  

• Press Release 27 February 09 Elderly paying the price Dublin Bus cutbacks.

The proposed 120 cut in the Dublin Bus fleet has been deplored by Friends of the Elderly. They are appealing to Dublin Bus to reconsider the plan as it will impact severely on the elderly.

"Our elderly have used buses all their lives, they don't have an alternative. Most of them don't own a car and cannot afford a taxi. Dublin Bus is their lifeline. It is the bus that takes them into the city, it takes them to the shopping centres, the medical centres, it takes them to the hospitals, it takes them to visit their friends".  
 
"Never before has Dublin experienced such a reduction in the bus fleet, and at a time when we should be expanding the fleet to get cars off our conjested roads. 120 buses are to be withdrawn" says Dermot Kirwan, Friends of the Elderly, "and the routes chosen for the cutbacks run through areas where there is a large concentration of elderly people, most have no alternative means of transport. We have been told that the reductions are mainly during off-peak times, that is precisely when the elderly tend to use the bus service."
 
"These cutbacks are an attack on the quality of the life and independence of our elderly citizens. They paid their taxes and invested in their public transport system over a lifetime. They should not have to carry the cost of these cutbacks."     
 
The cutbacks include the following :-
 
The special 'low floor' service from Tallaght to the city centre, which runs through areas with a high concentration of elderly people, has been disbanded.

• The service from Bray to the City Centre which stops at Vincent's Hospital has been halved
• The route from the outlying parts of Finglas which taked the elderly into Finglas Village to collect their pension from the post office and allows them to pop into Dunnes Stores and Superquinn is down 73 journeys per day.  This route runs through Glasnevin, Drumcondra and Phibsboro which has a high concentration of elderly people. 
• The Ballyfermot to city centre route, which runs through parts of Dublin with the oldest population profile, has lost 24 journeys per day, approx 20% drop.
• The route to Cappagh Hospital has been affected, it's an Cappagh is an orthopeadic hospital visited primarily by the elderly.
• The Bray to city centre route has been halved, this is the route that stops at Vincent's Hospital 

They cutbacks will cause real hardships for the elderly.  
 
MOST ELDERLY PEOPLE DON'T HAVE A TRANSPORT ALTERNATIVE, THEY DIDN'T BUY A CAR, THEY COULDN'T AFFORD A CAR, THEY PAID THEIR TAXES AND PUT THEIR FAITH IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT. THEY HAVE ALWAYS HAD A SMALL CARBON FOOTPRINT. THEY ARE ABIDING BY THE DUBLIN TRANSPORT INITIATIVE AND ARE BEING PENALISED FOR IT. THEY PLAYED NO PART IN THE RECKLESS SPENDING THAT GOT US INTO THIS MESS. WHY SHOULD THEY BE PENALISED FOR IT? 

• Press Release 9 April 08  Friends of the Elderly call for senior citizen Christmas shopping day in Dublin.

Friends of the Elderly are calling on Dublin City traders and the City authorities to nominate Monday 1st December as the Senior Citizens Christmas Shopping Day. "We are asking that the first Monday in December be set aside every year as the day when we make a fuss of our senior citizens. We would like taxi drivers to offer a discount to everyone over 65; we would like to see shopping centres and department stores putting on some light entertainment and subsidised refreshment and every store in the city offering some small discount to our senior citizens. We hope that the leading stores will liase with Dublin community groups that support the elderly and arrange special parking arrangements for the community vehicles" says Dermot Kirwan, Development Manager with Friends of the Elderly.

•  Press Release 8 April 08   Cost of hospital parking causing hardship for elderly in Dublin. 

Parking charges in Dublin's main hospital's are causing considerable hardship for those on a fixed income, particularly the elderly who make regular and lengthy visits to hospitals either as day patients or as visitors. The average hourly rate if you stay more than one hour in Beaumont, St. James's, The Mater, St. Vincent's or Tallaght Hospital is €2.40 and the average daily rate is €11.40. Blanchardstown Hospital still has free parking, but there are plans to introduce parking charges. Dermot Kirwan, Development Manager with Friends of the Elderly says, " We know that some elderly people are struggling to pay these parking charges. We have had reports of elderly people paying up to €50 a week on hospital parking. It is not good enough to say - let them use public transport, many come from outlying areas where the public transport is inadequate!" Friends of the Elderly are calling for the main Dublin Hospital to subside the parking for those who are pension age and beyond.

•  Press Release 19 March 08 Lack of home support for elderly coming out of hospital 

Friends of the Elderly are increasingly being called on to fill the gap in support services for the elderly who are returning from hospital. Recent HSE cutbacks have left many areas with curtailed home help services. "We are receiving an increased number of calls from social workers who are caught in the middle; the hospital needs the bed, but the community back-up isn't there. We are a volunteer based organisation, and there is only so much we can do."  Friends of the Elderly are asking that the HSE have a full review of current needs in this area.

•  Press Release 26 Feb 08  Friends of the Elderly calls for national campaign for 'Taxi Tokens' for elderly who cannot use the bus pass  

Friends of the Elderly, the Dublin based charity that helps to alleviate loneliness and isolation among the elderly who live alone has started the campaign as a response to the increasing number of elderly who cannot use their free bus pass. "Isolation and loneliness among the elderly, particularly those who live alone, is an increasing problem in Ireland. The best way to combat isolation is to ensure that the elderly remain active, independent and socially integrated for as long as possible. The bus pass was an enlightened initiative when it was introduced and it serves the the elderly well, as long as they can avail of it, but there are thousand of elderly people who do to frailty or lack of mobility cannot use buses. I welcome the Friends of the Elderly's initiative to encourage local authorities to offer Taxi Tokens for the elderly who need them. Safe, accessible, reliable and affordable transport should be available for all older people" said Dermot Kirwan, Development Manager with Friends of the Elderly. Friends of the Elderly are calling on all town, city and county councils to fund some level of Taxi Tokens for its elderly citizens who qualify, "Taxi Tokens for the elderly who cannot access public transport is not a new idea; 65 councils in the UK have been using Taxi Tokens schemes for some time. There are thousands of elderly people in the Dublin area who are virtually prisoners in their own homes. It will be money well spent when you consider the true cost of social depression caused by long term isolation and loneliness. One free taxi trip a week or month could transform the lives of elderly people who cannot use the buses." said Dermot Kirwan, Development Manager with Friends of the Elderly. "We are calling on all those who are active in their community to put pressure on their local representatives to consider the proposal."