The highlight of this government’s programme so far is the quantity of important Bills it has asked the House of Representatives to discuss and approve, mostly Bills with a liberal and social content, but also others which have been too long on the administration’s backburner. One such Bill has been put forward by parliamentary secretary Justyne Caruana, intended to protect the elderly and the vulnerable from abuse.

The Bill, which has important bi-party backing, is timely. Caruana gave some rather frightening details in launching it. For instance, she told the House that there had been a total of 11,000 cases of abuse on elderly and vulnerable people since 2008. Between 2009 and 2013 the police were informed of around 350 complaints of physical abuse and 385 cases of thefts from the elderly.

Worse still, the number of cases of violence on the elderly doubled between 2010 and 2013. All these figures refer to reported cases.

There were surely more cases of abuse and violence which were never reported, but which must have played mayhem with the lives of other elderly and vulnerable people.

Beppe Fenech Adami, speaking for the Opposition, said there were elderly people who lived in solitude. Some of them told politicians doing house visits that their children neglected them and did not visit them anymore. I came across this state of affairs many times when I was still in politics.

I remember an elderly lady telling me that none of her offspring visited her. She had six married children and lived on her own.

The number of cases of violence on the elderly doubled between 2010 and 2013

Fenech Adami also said that some people pretended to take care of vulnerable people and expected a portion of the person’s pension in compensation. There were also elderly people who said they were pressured to change their will.

Society has its good and bad people. No doubt, contrasting stories can be told of offspring who today care for elderly and vulnerable people with much love and attention.

Yet it is true that times are changing. In days of old, most married children would continue to care for their parents in their hour of need. Today the tendency has diminished.

While the number of elderly people who assist their female offspring by looking after their children while they go out to work has increased, the number of offspring who find the time to care for their parents has declined. Old people are farmed out wherever possible.

The government’s main retirement home, St Vincent de Paul, is bursting at the seams. Private retirement homes have mushroomed, do good business and fill a growing gap as the population ages.

Amid all this abuse is the cowardly way to pay those who brought us into this world and gave us our upbringing.

It must be tackled as severely as can be to build up a stronger deterrent effect. That is what the Bill put forward by Caruana proposes to do.

She also announced that Bills regarding a Commissioner for the Elderly, powers of attorney, contracts and testaments were all at an advanced stage.

This is all good. But there must be more – the government cannot and should not do it all. It behoves offspring and other relatives to show their love and gratitude to the elderly by finding time to visit them and care for them better.

Solitude, leading to loneliness, at a time when the elderly are likely to have lost a partner, is a terrible thing. Homes for the elderly and hospitals should not be seen as the easy way out.

The best way out is to remember our obligations and not allow ourselves to become immune to the needs and even desperation of those to whom we owe so much.

The parliamentary debate is a debate with heart. There should be more like it.