Westmeath Community Development

The Scheme of Community Support for Older People was initially introduced in 1996 in order to contribute to the social supports available for vulnerable older people.  The emphasis of the Scheme has been on providing funds to local community and voluntary organisations to install personal monitored alarms and items of home security, such as door and window locks, to enable the older person live independently.  Grants are not made to individuals under this scheme.  Instead, eligible older people are identified through their local community groups and an application is made on their behalf.  The level of grant is subject to the available funding in any one year.  An average of 10,000 older people have benefited from the Scheme since 2006.  Over 1,850 older people have already benefited from the Scheme in 2009.

“Given the urgent action needed to restore stability to the public finances and the requirement to prioritise funding to restore economic activity and employment, I regret that I have had to make some tough decisions,” Minister Curran said today when he announced the suspension of the Scheme with immediate effect.  The Minister went on to say that he hopes to be in a position to provide support for all applications on hands as funds become available.