ALONE reacts to draft Programme for Government
Organisation cites a ‘mixed bag’ of policies for ageing at home.
15th Jan 2025, ALONE, the organisation that supports people to age at home, has reacted to the draft programme for Government issued today. While there are some positives that address our ageing population and the needs that we as a society will face over the next 5 years there are also some omissions that will continue to exist through the life of the next Government.
Sean Moynihan, ALONE CEO said, “ Before and after the election, we presented our asks and our evidence to every single candidate and elected TD, based on the experiences and the needs of the 42,000 older people we supported across our services last year.
Now, obviously we need time to absorb and consider what’s in the document – and this is only a draft document at this stage – but at first glance, we’re pleased to see some of the provisions in there around housing for older people, particularly those that reflect the methods and the ethos behind our own Housing with Support pathfinder project”.
Of the major areas that ALONE was looking for commitments on , loneliness, benchmarking the pension and a commissioner for older people do not appear in the first draft anyway.
Moynihan continued, “On the other side of the ledger, it’s very disappointing not to see a Commissioner for Older People established, and not to see any commitment to an action plan on loneliness – we would urge the parties to add those commitments to the draft before it’s finalised. Likewise, while it’s good to see a commitment to increasing the weekly pension across the lifetime of the government, what older people really need is a commitment to benchmarking the state pension and give us all the certainty and security we need later in life”.
ALONE has campaigned for the changes it sees are needed and the evidence from supporting over 42,000 people last year across our services.