Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. It is the last Dáil sitting day of 2012 and sadly the long awaited positive ageing strategy continues to be long awaited. There have been numerous false dawns signalling the imminent publication of this strategy but the most concrete assurance was by the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch. Initially, it was to have been done last October and definitely to have been before Cabinet for approval by the end of the year. To the best of my knowledge there will not be another Cabinet meeting before the end of the year but perhaps the Minister will enlighten us in this regard. If there is a Cabinet meeting perhaps he will be able to resolve the Stepaside issue also.

Is it possible that part of the issue may surround resourcing in the Department? There seem to be issues in the section dealing with the office for older people. Have many people left the section and, if so, have they been replaced? Are sufficient policy personnel available to work on the issue? There seem to be policy development personnel in the Department of Health and I would have thought they would be available to assist in drafting this strategy under the guidance of the Minister and the Government. Why has this resource issue not been tackled, which would be in accordance with the Croke Park agreement? There simply seems to be no great urgency by the Government in dealing with the issue. If there was, the strategy would have been published by now

Perhaps the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, holds too many portfolios. Unlike in the previous Government, no dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for older people has been appointed. When the Government was initially appointed the portfolio was not even awarded. A stop-gap solution was put in place to handle the fallout around this oversight with regard to older people, and the tag was shoved on to the end of the Minister of State's extensive list of responsibilities

Strategically this is a key policy area for future planning and if we are anticipating the future ageing of the population and pension issues as looming crises, which I believe we are and we should, then we are already running out of time to put in place the planning structures needed for delivering some key strategic interventions to plan for the future.

Pushing out the qualifying age for pensions but retaining the mandatory retirement age is being presented as a stop gap. The latest step is to get people who have just retired and who now cannot draw down their pension to sign on for a few years. A high level work and retirement forum has been set up by the Minister for Social Protection to address these anomalies, but it is a classic example of a lack of planning where the stable door is closed after the horse has bolted.

I would have thought that to reach the end of the European year for active ageing and solidarity between generations and not have successfully concluded the publication of the national positive ageing strategy is embarrassing for the Government, and especially for the Minister concerned. As part of the development of the strategy, a group was established called the non-governmental organisation liaison group to feed in to the development of the strategy. Thus far, however, that group has not seen a draft. This is a complete indictment of our policy developers, yet it seems to be the modus operandifor this Department. An effort has been made to keep sectoral experts at arm's length as opposed to engaging fully with them as key and valued partners.

It has been suggested to the Older and Bolder organisation that the interdepartmental group set up across the various Departments has been dragging its heels on this matter. It has not even been able to get the list of who constitutes the current interdepartmental group. In the absence of a political champion in this House pushing hard for this, and the fact we are still waiting indicates that there is no such urgency, we will continue waiting.

In Ireland, people are living longer and have more years of healthy active living than previous generations enjoyed. As the lifespan of older people extends, the frailties and disabilities which affect them need a caring effective response. As Ireland becomes a more urban society and more socially fragmented, social isolation and its many negative impacts on older people need to be recognised and countered.

The economic recession hits all sections of our society but has particularly severe consequences for older people, which also deserve to be identified and mitigated. Earlier this year, my party published a policy on ageing which was founded on two principles. One is recognising the potential of our ageing population to contribute to and enrich our society in many diverse ways, given their talents, experience and wisdom, and the many years of healthy life expectancy which most can enjoy. The other is that their human rights as citizens must be affirmed and the many forms of discrimination on grounds of age against them must be exposed and eliminated.

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