David Norris (Independent)

I feel a certain sense of triumph at my survival to this age, although I have reached the point where I review death notices with increasing interest. I pay tribute not only to the agencies mentioned in the Minister of State's speech but also to Age Concern, with which I have worked, on its efforts to inform the general public.

I have noticed that men seem to die very soon after retirement, one of the reasons for which is because they lack interests. We should prepare people for retirement by encouraging them to broaden their interests beyond a tunnel-like focus on their jobs. It is important that we provide such training.

The Minister of State referred to the refusal by insurance companies to provide insurance to those over the age of 70. I have heard a number of complaints from tourists on this issue. Ireland receives a lot of American tourists who, although over the age of 70, are competent to drive. These visitors are automatically refused insurance cover without being tested in any way. That has an impact on our tourism industry.

As regards our general attitude towards older people, when the nursing home problem was raised in this House, old age pensioners living in homes were insultingly advised that they could retain a certain amount of pocket money. We have to be careful not to patronise by using terms such as "pocket money", which reduce the status of older children to the level of children. I was asked by Age Concern and other groups to make a short radio insert about the mistreatment of elderly people and, mea culpa, I told a story about my adored aunt. When she was in her late 90s and living in a nursing home, I decided to recover an 18th century wing armchair as a birthday present. I thought I was doing the devil and all but she was absolutely livid with rage and accused me of destroying the chair. That was not the case because the cover she claimed was an 18th century original was in fact a piece of horrible Edwardian fabric. However, the real reason for her anger was that I had taken her last vestige of control over her life and the disposition of her goods. I was extraordinarily insensitive to do so and I learned from the experience not to make these kinds of interventions without consulting the people concerned.

It is a source of concern that public nursing homes are not subject to inspection because I think the incidence of bed sores is frequent among elderly people in these homes. This matter should be thoroughly investigated in light of the scandal caused by the inspection of private nursing homes.

Some years ago, Sandymount's 102 year old postmistress stopped driving after being crashed into by another driver. She said she had to retire because road manners had deteriorated too much. In her own mind, she was still capable of driving but she was worried about the bad behaviour of other road users. That is an example of the spirit of older people, whose ranks we will all join if we are lucky.