McAleese pays tribute to elderly

Ageing should be regarded as an opportunity for new challenges and beginnings rather than an endgame, President Mary McAleese has said.

Ms McAleese said over the past two decades the tide of thinking about ageing has turned in Ireland and that the contribution and potential of older people is getting a considerably better hearing than in the past.

"There are things on the agenda today that were simply absent a short time ago: an emphasis on positive ageing, on ongoing social, physical and intellectual activity and life-long learning," she said at an event celebrating the start of Age Action's Positive Ageing Week in Dublin.

Ms McAleese said there had been "a relentless and successful assault on the simplistic assumption" that discussions about ageing should focus on decline, increased infirmity and dependency.

"These are certainly part of the spectrum of issues that ageing gives rise to, but they are a long way from being the whole story..."

Some 800 events are taking place this week across the country as part of Positive Ageing Week.

Coffee mornings, theatre performances, table quizzes, fashion shows, heritage trips, dinner dances and ceilis are among the events organised.

Age Action chief executive Robin Webster said growing older is not something to be feared. "Older people are a huge resource for Irish society, which to date has been relatively untapped or not acknowledged," he said.