Madam, – Your Editorial (January 13th) is a timely reminder of some of the challenges that Irish society needs to address as our population ages. These relate not just to policies and practices, but also to public attitudes.
Our ageing population is not a “demographic time bomb”, as some commentators refer to it, but a challenge to be met as more of us live longer lives. This issue affects almost everyone reading this letter. When we talk about future generations of older people, we are talking about ourselves and our families.
Those who present the world’s ageing population as a problem often make predictions for future costs by extrapolating current costs. That is part of the problem. Meeting the challenge of an ageing population must involve adapting our services in response to the changing demographic, not merely continuing with existing policies and services.
For example, there must be greater investment in community health services to enable more older people to remain living in their own homes, thereby reducing the numbers who will need acute hospital services and nursing home care.
While issues such as pensions and health costs are important, the list of challenges facing an ageing population is broader than that. It includes transport, housing and environmental design, energy, employment, education and civic participation.
With older people expected to outnumber younger people by 2060, we also need to ensure that older people can play a full role in society. Widespread age discrimination in Ireland means that older people find it difficult to share the knowledge and the experience they have gained over a lifetime.
Faced with such negative attitudes, some older people are left wondering what role, if any, they can play in modern Ireland. If these public attitudes persist, the real losers will be Irish society itself.
The Government has begun work on the National Positive Ageing Strategy. It is of national importance that this strategy adopt a far-reaching and ambitious approach.
Its findings must then be acted on so that we can plan for our ageing population in a way that ensures we maximise the benefits of having an ageing population. – Yours, etc,