Ms Maureen Kavanagh:

I thank the Chairman, Deputy Dominic Hannigan, and the other committee members for the invitation to speak today. I will set out a little background. Active Retirement Ireland is a national network of over 560 local active retirement associations across the breath of Ireland, south and north of the Border. Each is self-managed and run by older people by themselves and for themselves. We have over 24,500 members in the organisation from the age of 50 years upwards to 100 years. We operate across nine regions. Our mission is to reach out to all older people to stop loneliness through friendship and support. Our organisation has been a member of AGE Platform Europe since 2009. We are pleased AGE Platform Europe is seeking consultative status at the Council of Europe in order that it can participate more in debates.

I will set out our views on older people in Europe. The current generation of older people includes those aged 55 years plus. It is not a homogeneous group and we have members from 55 years right up to 100 years of age. This includes several generations. They have strong memories of Ireland pre-1973. The country was post-colonial and rather inward focused. Pre-EEC Ireland was an unequal and unfair society. One example of this was the so-called marriage bar, removed in 1973. It would not have been removed were it not for Ireland wanting to get into the EEC at the time and the provision that we had to put in place some equality laws for that to happen and so on. That policy cost an entire generation of women their own pension rights. This is only beginning to emerge today in terms of policies that acted against women's equality. Irish equality legislation, including measures to address ageism, was practically non-existent prior to EEC membership. Since then, however, we have seen the Equal Status Act 2000 as well as the Employment Equality Act 1998. These are all in the memories of people who have gone through the labour force.

Older people have seen the European Union bring major improvements to Irish infrastructure. When we ask people throughout the country about it they talk of the new roads. They still refer to these as the new roads although they may have been in place for some time. We have preserved rural Ireland by attracting businesses and investment to rural Ireland. All this is due to EU support. This is in the memory of people as a result of coming into the EU. We are aware of the influence of European Social Fund programmes throughout the years for women's projects, communities, child care, youth projects and more. These have impacted throughout Ireland and have helped to build excellent infrastructure and child care centres throughout Ireland that are run in communities by communities.

Farmers across Ireland have seen improvements in their standard of living and have been able to avail of improvements and developments in their sector. This is in the living memory of our members.

The developments, however, are not all positive. The dreaded regulations are sometimes feared more than necessary, for example, there was a fear that we would all be eating straight bananas but that did not happen. There was a perception that the EU would bring that down on people. There is a perception that the MEPs and Commissioners are "over there", that it is a cushy number and they are out of touch.

The bailout and recession were seen as the result of EU outsiders wielding influence. Austerity hit older people. Whether due to the EU or not, they lost trust in their banks and institutions. It is all seen as one big pot. That is the negative effect that is hitting people.

The biggest recent changes are the changes in perception. On the positive side, people became more open to older people. I hope that was a change in attitude to Europe rather than a change in attitude to Ryanair but we will say it is a changed attitude to Europe. Tourism has rejuvenated urban and rural areas in Ireland and has provided opportunities for older people to go to the Continent and see it in its entirety.

Flexicurity of pensions has allowed many older people move around Europe for long periods of time and make retirement homes in warmer climes for three to six months. MEPs organise trips to Brussels and Strasbourg for active retirement associations. That is very popular and has opened up Europe for people to see the different structures there.

We have changed our attitudes over the past 32 years but there is more to do. The EU can regain the trust of older people through the role it plays in equality legislation. Ireland’s ageism laws are non-existent. The EU can play a stronger role in that regard. Ageism is rife in every part of Irish society. We are all ageist in our own way and need to be more aware of that. The EU can take a lead role in ensuring that older people’s voices are heard in tourism, consumer protection, health policies in particular, and the whole concept of healthy and positive ageing. The National University of Ireland, Galway, NUIG, centre did research for us a couple of years ago with active retirement members which found that by participating in activities that make their lives more active and engaged and less lonely, they contribute the equivalent of €15 million a year to their own health. There is a big agenda in protecting the human rights of older people. We would like to see the working group do more work on that non-binding instrument on the promotion of human rights for older people. That work needs to be linked to other instruments, such as the Madrid international plan on ageing and the global network of age-friendly cities and communities, because we have a national positive ageing strategy in Ireland but we do not have an implementation plan. While attitudes to the EU have certainly changed and many older people can see the benefits, there is more work to be done and we would be very willing to engage in that work on health promotion, policy, ageism and human rights.