Dr. Tara Byrne:

I thank members for the opportunity to discuss the important topic of arts and older people. Age & Opportunity’s arts programme focuses on older people’s artistic creativity and creative potential and supports the meaningful participation and representation of older people in cultural and creative life. Age & Opportunity is the national quality of life organisation for older people, just in case a reminder needs to be given.

Our arts programme is anchored in the annual Bealtaine Festival. I hope members have seen this pamphlet. It is on all month; it is on at the moment. It celebrates the arts and creativity as we age. The programme also includes a year-round resource and development set of initiatives that support older artists and arts participants and enable arts organisations to work more effectively with older people.

Like everyone present, our submission rests on access and equity issues regarding the arts and older people, specifically. As well as our own evidence and experience, which is quite substantial, there is growing national and a significant body of international research that shows the social and health benefits of engaging with the arts. This is distinct from what might be called the intrinsic or primary benefits of the arts, which might be a sense of self-expression, self-actualisation, deep flow, enjoyment and so on. Cultural access, of which the arts is a part, is not just a "nice to have" participation in the cultural life of the community; it is a human right under many international conventions and treaties to which Ireland has committed and which it is directed to respect, protect and fulfil. The State is a duty-bearer to all its citizens in this regard.

Arts access includes provision for older people in harder to reach residential and community care and social settings such as nursing homes, home care and day care centres and, therefore, we will focus our contribution to the discussion on access to the arts for these citizens in particular. What is the position regarding access for people living in those settings? Although many nursing homes and only some day care centres have activity co-ordinators, there is no onus on the everyday provision of arts activities in particular or at all, or the involvement of professional or trained artists, which my colleagues mentioned. That is absolutely critical to a quality experience. In addition, and my colleague on the left have talked to this, disabled people over the age of 65, that is, older disabled people, are not eligible for personal assistance, which curtails their own creativity, potential ability to earn and access to the arts.

The potential acquiring of age-related disabilities in later life more generally also makes physical access to arts venues in cities and towns difficult for all cohorts of older people. In addition, and from a broader cultural perspective, there are psychosocial access issues that relate to the lack of historical arts education at school. This is for people mostly born in the first half of the 20th century when there was almost no arts education at all. This means that many older people feel that the arts are unfamiliar and potentially elitist and, thus, not for them. All of these of course exist in respect of people who live today and have contemporary education, but particularly for those older people.

These factors mean that many older people live out the last third or even the second half of their lives without any, or a poor standard, of arts access and engagement. There are enormous benefits of the arts and, in particular, meaningful activity to identity and personhood for those living in care settings is important. We know that is absolutely critical that continues when one moves from a familiar family-surrounded home situation to an unfamiliar situation in a setting. Identity is absolutely critical to that. The lack of arts access represents a significant cultural loss to older Irish citizens but also a loss to the taxpayer, who supports the health service, and a consequent deficit to the State. If we look at these instrumentally, there are savings, arguably, to be made to the health service in terms of access to the arts bringing down healthcare costs.

What actions are needed? Access to the arts and culture for older people living in these harder to reach situations is currently not protected in legislation, policy or even ongoing funding programmes. As long as this is the case, these rights will not be realised and the State will fail its older citizens. The kind of arts activity that people generally have in nursing homes and day care centres is completely ad hoc, usually unprofessional and very rare. There is a need for a transparent State policy framework that charges all the duty-bearers - the Arts Council, the HSE, local government and care settings, including home care - to provide everyday access to the arts for all older people, regardless of where they live and what disabilities they might have acquired.