Law to protect elderly from abuse in families sought

The Government was urged yesterday to set up a task force to research and prepare legislation similar to the Child Protection Act to protect elderly people.

Mr Noel Byrne, project director of the Ballincollig Senior Citizens' Club, said the club had recently come across eight cases of emotional, verbal and physical abuse of elderly people.

"We're dealing with eight cases at the moment, and they would involve emotional abuse such as humiliation, intimidation, ridicule or bullying, or verbal abuse such as shouting and swearing at them," he said.

Forms of emotional abuse can include ostracising elderly people within families, the threat of eviction from the family home, and denying them comforts such as television or radio.

"In one case, the person's family doesn't want the person to be involved in anything. They have no social stimulation or no social interaction. We haven't been allowed to speak to the family in this case," said Mr Byrne.

"We're also aware of one case of physical abuse where an elderly woman is constantly being kicked on the legs by her daughter. We asked the woman to meet us, but she refused. She said she wanted to report it but wanted nothing done about it."

In some cases, the abuse can stem from the demands an older person makes on a family which they just can't meet, often because the support structures aren't in place to assist them, Mr Byrne said.

"The demands on the family are huge. Nobody is educated to look after an 80-year-old person, and the family don't have the time that is demanded of them to look after the older person. That causes stress, that causes anxiety, that causes abuse," he said.

Mr Byrne, whose agency caters for 400 elderly people, said he had no evidence of any deaths from abuse of the elderly, "but I've no doubt it has happened. The pressure and stress on people at that age could be fatal," he said. He added that the increase in cases of abuse of the aged is partly due to more people living longer.

Mr Byrne, whose agency employs more than 40 part-time, full-time and contract staff, said it was seeking a house in central Co Cork to set up a refuge for elderly people who were suffering abuse from their families.

"We're pleading to the authorities to give us a house as a refuge so that we can house at least five people per week. We need somewhere where we can bring people out of a risk situation, where they can be looked after while we work with families," he said.

Mr Byrne said elderly people who were not in abusive situations could also use the house, to give their families a break from caring for them.

Ballincollig Senior Citizens' Club is embarking on a 37-house project for the elderly on land in the town - worth about £3 million - provided by Cork County Council. The Government has also provided £3 million in funding.