Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, for taking this question on behalf of the Government. We had a useful debate on the future of healthcare yesterday. He will be aware of that. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, spoke about the success in Ireland where we now have a life expectancy of 82.6 years. As she rightly pointed out, our aim is not just to live longer but also to live healthier lives. The Minister used Government statistics to point out that over the next 20 years, the numbers aged 65 to 84 in this country will grow by 65% and those aged over 85 will more than double. That is a remarkable success in terms of life expectancy. One of the challenges for many people as they grow older is that they are not necessarily as healthy as they could or should be.

We know, for instance, that a teenager today has a one in five chance of living to the age of 100. A baby born today has a one in three chance of living to the age of 100. We need to start to think in the long term about how we can ensure that people lead healthy lives throughout the many decades they are going to live. One of the problems is that because of physical activity, it leads to a greater demand on our health service. The World Health Organization last year measured Ireland's physical activity and estimated that the cost of physical activity in Ireland was of the order of €1.5 billion per year.

With that in mind, and as we are trying to encourage healthier lives, physical and mental well-being, a number of us have for quite a while been advocating the concept of gym membership to encourage people to get involved in gym and other physical activities as a way not necessarily to build big muscles, although that should not be discouraged, but to encourage flexibility and the maintenance of muscle and balance. My colleagues Deputy Dolan and the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, have been strong on these issues. In the budget last October, the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, indicated that his Department would review and examine the possibilities of how such a tax relief measure would operate. It was, as the Minister of State will be aware, also contained in the programme for Government. There has been an active campaign by the Irish Physical Activity Alliance, led by Darina Dunne, to ensure that gyms would be responsive if the Government were to initiate this campaign.

There are quite a number of examples around the world where other governments have adopted this approach, particularly in a number of the provinces in Canada. I will give just one example. Newfoundland and Labrador has a physical activity tax credit. In that case, every family can apply for up to 2,000 CAD of a tax credit but there is a requirement in terms of their gym or activity membership: "It must involve significant physical activity that improves cardiorespiratory endurance, as well as muscular strength, flexibility or balance."

There are similar schemes operating across a number of the other Canadian provinces, including Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Yukon. In Singapore, retirees receive free gym membership as part of the Age Well SG programme. The impact of that is seen in the fact the number of older Singaporeans who require hospital or nursing home care has been reduced significantly.

This is a health promotion measure and as the Minister of State who has responsibility for older people at the Department of Health, I hope the Minister of State supports this in addition to indicating on behalf of the Department of Finance what research has been done.

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