Older people are facing a critical situation this winter due to cost-of-living increases and the issues must be prioritised in the Budget - a submission by Alone has claimed.
The campaigning group for the elderly has also said that the rise in food prices will put the aging community under extreme pressure.
This week, Electric Ireland announced increases in their prices while the cost of food continues to rise.
READ MORE: Dunnes, Tesco, Lidl and more Irish supermarkets refunding fruit, crisps and other 'unsafe' food
The government are set to make a number of emergency announcements in a bid to tackle the cost of living when the Budget is announced next month.
Alone CEO Sean Moynihan said: "The difficulties being experienced by older people are increasing. More and more of us are renting into retirement age and beyond as housing costs have skyrocketed. Living costs are increasing. Older people, reliant on fixed incomes, are vulnerable to these changes.
"At Alone we are already seeing the sea change coming among the cohort we work with. In the years to come, older people will struggle even more unless significant action is taken. We know this is possible, but we need to see Government make the right choices in Budget 2023."
In their report to Government entitled "If not now, why?" the organisation say the past few months have been challenging with 92 percent of older people saying they are concerned about the cost of living.
The group also said two thirds of their clients have fears over rising food costs that are "forcing them to change their behaviour, often with their nutrition suffering as a result".
The report goes on to state "household maintenance is proving too costly for over 30 per cent of them, meaning their living conditions are suffering.
"Rising transport costs mean that social isolation is increasing, as they cannot afford to get out and about as much as they would like".
The 48-page report hammers home the message that that the Exceptional Needs Payment "are at the discretion of the officers administering the scheme" but that since 2019 the grants have decreased.
Alone said is it concerned "that the reduction in the number of Exceptional and Urgent Needs Payments granted, while the amount of the average grant increased, does not indicate a reduction in demand, but a reduction in the number of successful applications and a higher level of need for these grants.
"In Alone's experience, successful applications for the Exceptional needs Payment can depend on individual HEO's as well as geographical location".
The group makes a number of recommendations including a review of the grant, including a note of the "total number of applications and rate of success and to streamline the criteria for application nationwide".
They are also calling for an update on the National Positive Ageing Strategy, develop a whole of government interdepartmental implementation plan and to commit to funding for this plan.
Alone have also said they want to see the expedition of an urgent review of the experiences of older people during the pandemic and make short to medium term recommendations to government.
And to continue working on reviewing strategies relating to older people and engage in a review of care and support for older people in order to make longer term policy recommendations.
They are also asking the government to "commit to multiyear funding increases to Home Support Services and to deliver a minimum of 23.67 million hours of Home Support in the Budget.
Completing a strategic review of GP services is also part of their submissions and the establishments of a €5million Loneliness Fund to develop a national plan to address the issues.
There are currently 50-day care centres nationwide that have not reopened since Covid and Alone is calling for an urgent review of the reopening of these units.
A full review of Local Authority Housing Delivery Action Plans is also on the submission and for an increase in older social housing for the 60 to over 70's age group.
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