News
Rise and rise of older people with disabilities in residential care
T
he number of people over the age of 55 with disabilities living in residential services has doubled over the last two decades. Rehab, one of Ireland’s largest charities for people with disabilities, is calling on the HSE to support older people with intellectual disabilities to live in their communities and stop
channelling people toward residential care. Despite the HSE revealing that 36% of older people with disabilities are now living in residential services, compared to just 17% in 1996, their service plan launched today does little to address this issue. Instead of providing adequate supports to older people to live in their own
communities in line with government policy, the HSE’s focus is on providing more of the same. This approach is forcing more people into residential services, often against their will. Kathleen O’Meara, Rehab’s Director of Communications and Public Affairs, said the HSE should prioritise supporting
people to live in their own communities in line with government policy. She said: “We don’t need to institutionalise people with disabilities just because they are getting older. As a society, Ireland needs to get to grips with how best to support people to live at home. We can and should do better. Currently we are failing our most vulnerable members of society. “People with intellectual disabilities are now living longer. Many will live well into old age. We know of cases where people under the age of 50 with intellectual disability end up in nursing homes just because they don’t have the independent living skills to remain in their homes after their parents pass away. This is entirely inappropriate. It’s all the more damning as we fail to yet again reach our target of ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Person with Disabilities. “Better planning and skills development is not only cheaper than providing a nursing home bed, but leads to a far better quality of life for people as they age,” she added.
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Irish consumers charged more in UK online shops The marathon runner who had to pay extra because he had an Irish address - the shopper being charged extra by a UK online trader because she was using an Irish credit card - the holiday-maker who couldn't hire a car because she had an Irish licence these are all traders' tactics which are illegal under EU consumer protection rules. A new EU report out recently finds that shoppers still face unjustified discrimination due to nationality and place of residence, with Ireland sending the third highest number of complaints in the EU.
The report looks at the implementation of EU consumer law and finds that business practices such as geo-blocking are still preventing consumers from accessing services, particularly when shopping online. Article 20.2 of the EU Services Directive sets out the principle of non-discrimination on the basis of nationality and place of residence but there are now calls for clearer messages to traders and for stronger enforcement. Produced by the EU-supported European Consumer Centre (ECC) Network, "Do Invisible Borders Still Restrict Consumer Access to Services in the EU?" officially launched at the European Commission Office for Northern Ireland in Belfast. The project was led by the Irish branch of ECC (based in Dublin) and was a joint project with 5 other EU countries, including the UK. Joining them at the launch was the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, which also has an interest in this hot consumer issue. A legal adviser for ECC Ireland, Anna Heryan, said: “The Services Directive has been an important step in improving the functioning of the
Single Market for services. However, complaints received by ECC-Net confirmed that the principle of nondiscrimination of Article 20.2 has not been effective in combatting unjustified service differentiation and it has not reduced legal uncertainty. Consumers too often face restrictions with no justification while the reasons invoked by traders are unconvincing and lack objective criteria." In a statement ECC-Net said: "ECCNet welcomes the European Commission’s acknowledgement that further action is necessary to give effect to the principle of nondiscrimination and develop rules against discrimination based on the nationality or place of residence of consumers. We also welcome the Digital Single Market and the Single Market Strategy initiatives, as well as the Commission’s adoption of the ecommerce package which is a major step forward in tackling geoblocking, making cross-border parcel delivery more affordable and efficient, and promoting consumer trust through better protection and enforcement."
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