A Sligo TD has warned that substantial increases in supports for older people will be needed over the coming years to cope with the country’s ageing population.
Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Eamon Scanlon says supports such as the disability parking scheme needs to be extended to sufferers of both Alzheimer’s and dementia.
He said the extension of such a scheme would ‘significantly improve’ the lives of people living with these conditions and their families.
Deputy Scanlon said he was contacted by a local constituent whose husband suffers from dementia. The woman had left her husband at the main door of Sligo University Hospital while she parked her car. When she returned to her car, her husband had walked a mile and a half away from the hospital. The man was later tracked down by Gardaí.
Deputy Scanlon said that had this man’s wife been allowed park in a disabled spot, this would not have happened.
