4275. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the level of funding for the senior alert scheme in each of the past five years; the number of applications approved in each year; the number of applications rejected in each year; the number of applications approved to date in 2026; whether the funding for 2026 has been exhausted or whether new applications will be accepted; and if so, the waiting time that will apply. [57559/26]

My Department is responsible for the Seniors Alert Scheme which encourages community support for older people in our communities through the provision of personal monitored alarms to enable them to live securely in their homes with confidence, independence and peace of mind.

Funding is available under the scheme towards the purchase, by a registered community-based organisation, of a personal alarm or pendant and one year of monitoring.

The scheme has an allocation of €3.2million in 2026, with additional support from the 2026 Dormant Accounts Fund. Expenditure to date under SAS initiative during 2026 has been approximately €2 million.

The table below shows the allocation, expenditure and approved participants over the past five years.

*Expenditure and participant numbers to end June 2026

Since the scheme was launched in 2015, almost 168,000 participants have been approved for the alarms, including over 17,700 in 2025. As it is a demand led scheme, it is kept under continuous review to ensure funding can be made available to meet the requirements of all qualifying applicants. To date, every applicant that has applied to the scheme, and who meets the eligibility criteria, has been approved. I would encourage those eligible to keep applying for the scheme.