As many as 12,000 older Irish people are subjected to abuse, which can include being slapped, starved, isolated or threatened, according to a new report.
In the report, the National Council on Ageing and Older People calls for immediate action to tackle the problem - but more than a year has passed since it was sent to the Minister for Health and Children.
"While many older people in Ireland have a positive experience of later life, there is evidence that some are exposed to the most tragic forms of ill-treatment," the report says.
"Service providers are aware of a wide range of abuse, neglect and mistreatment of older people in Ireland."
The report's authors - social worker Ms Anne O'Loughlin and Dr Joseph Duggan - estimate that about 3 per cent of older people are subject to abuse. They call for the creation of an agency "to assume responsibility for the protection of older people".
The council, in its introduction, calls for the immediate establishment of a representative working party within the Department of Health and Children to advise the Minister on the steps to take to deal with the problem.
Over the past 10 years, Ms O'Loughlin has done pioneering work on abuse of older people in Ireland. In earlier research, she found that the biggest single group of abusers was made up of the sons or daughters of victims.
The report was compiled at the request of the then minister for health, Mr Michael Noonan. It finds that abuse occurs both in the home and in institutions. Older people are reluctant to report abuse, sometimes out of shame at what a family member is doing and sometimes out of fear of retaliation, the report says.
Abuse is most likely to be discovered by nurses and other professionals during routine visits. But some professionals, the report says, are reluctant to acknowledge that abuse is happening when they are told of it.
The report warns that nursing homes which are known to provide poor-quality care can continue to thrive: "Shortage of beds means that even homes with a reputation for poor-quality care may be filled."
In institutions, the abuse of older people is usually perpetrated by women staff on women residents, the authors say.
Factors facilitating abuse of older people in institutions include the stripping of the identity of the older person and "the powerlessness of staff as employees whilst having absolute power as `carers' ."
The authors draw particular attention to the fact that long-stay, publicly run institutions for older people are not subject to the same degree of inspection as private nursing homes, and they call for this to be rectified as a matter of urgency.
In a survey of service providers, conducted for the report, the most common forms of abuse which they had encountered were:
slapping the older person;
putting the older person into a state of fear;
misusing the older person's money;
depriving the older person of food, clothing and general care;
confining the older person to one room.
Abuse in institutions included: name calling and other verbal abuse; and neglecting residents' needs as regards feeding, toileting and personal hygiene.
Some instances of sexual abuse of older people have also come to light, the report says.
A social work service for older people and a seven-day, 24-hour community nursing service are among the main recommendations in the report. A campaign is needed to make the public more aware of abuse of older people, it says, and professionals need training and guidelines in how to deal with it.
The promised Social Services Inspectorate should deal with this area, as well as services for children. A telephone helpline should be set up on a trial basis, it says, and "the development of a shelter for victims of elder abuse should be seriously considered".
Abuse, Neglect and Mistreat- ment of Older People: An Exploratory Study. £6.