Abuse of older people regularly features in the courts. Cases in recent years include:
November 1990: A 40-year-old Dublin man was jailed for three years for killing his 79-year-old mother with a hatchet. Evidence was given that he had beaten her during the previous six months after he moved in with her.
January 1994: A 63-year-old former owner of a Dublin nursing home was given a four-year suspended sentence for sexually assaulting an 89-year-old patient and three staff.
April 1995: A 42-year-old Munster man was sentenced to 15 years' penal servitude for the rape of his 68-year-old mother.
May 1998: A 43-year-old Co Donegal woman was jailed for seven years after she battered an 83-year-old neighbour with a hammer, apparently to cover up the fact that she had spent £5,000 he had entrusted to her.