John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

By the middle of the century, it is projected that one quarter of the population will be aged 65 and over. This demographic trend presents challenges and opportunities for the State and for society. Ireland is in a good position to deal with these challenges and opportunities. As a relatively late developer in demographic terms, we can learn from experiences in other EU countries. Moreover, we can harness our recent economic development to help provide a future in which older persons are treated as equal citizens. This presents us with great challenges in regard to our health service and nursing homes. We have an ageing population and people are living longer. We now have the technology and the medicine in our hospitals to help people live longer. That takes extra money, but we should not deal with that in terms of equity release, which was referred to by previous speakers.

The Government is again going down the Progressive Democrats neoliberal line, allowing the party to dictate policy in this area. It is quite scandalous that the Government will force people——

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