Call to prepare for more aged population

Ireland needs to start planning now to meet the additional healthcare services needed for an ageing population, according to Social Justice Ireland.

By 2025, the number of people aged over 85 years will have doubled, leading to increased demand for healthcare services and facilities, the advocacy group points out in a new publication, National Social Monitor 2014.

“In the context of our past mistakes, it is important that Ireland begins to plan for this additional demand and begins to train staff and construct the needed facilities,” according to the document.

The report says supports to enable people to live at home need to be part of an broader integrated approach that ensures appropriate access to acute services when required.

“To achieve this, the specific deficits in infrastructure that exist across the country need to be addressed urgently. There should be an emphasis on replacement and/or refurbishment of facilities.”

Dr Seán Healy, director of Social Justice Ireland, said the need for much greater action on long-term unemployment was clear. More than 146,500 people are long-term unemployed, compared to just 32,000 in 2007, he said.

Human dignity

He said the monitor proposed a guiding vision for Irish society based on the values of human dignity, equality, human rights, solidarity, sustainability and the pursuit of the common good.

The indicators presented in the Monitor showed that Ireland had a long way to go to achieve such a vision.

"The Monitor argues that building such a society is possible. On the one hand it requires recognition of the fact that a future based on the primacy of the market is not likely to be either just or fair. On the other hand it requires that priority be given to the common good."

Dr Healy said that to diversify the rural economy, Ireland needed to move from agricultural development to rural development, from maritime development to supporting coastal communities - and to support small, local, sustainable and indigenous enterprises, farming and fishing.

The roll-out of high-speed broadband in rural areas must be a priority for Government, he added.

The report also calls for Government to support young people to remain in their communities.

On tax, he said the challenge was to widen the base, with the corporate sector paying its fair share. Ireland must plan to have sufficient revenue to service debt and meet the costs of providing services at the level people expect.