Mary White (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday the Oireachtas audio-visual room was attended by members of the Older and Bolder organisation, which represents eight groups, including the Older Women's Network and the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. All these non-governmental organisations agree on what is needed to enhance the lives of older people. I have raised the issue many times in this Chamber. I call on the Leader to arrange for the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, to attend the House. She attended yesterday's meeting in the audio-visual room. She is having public meetings throughout the country to discuss matters of serious concern to older people. I would like to hear what progress is being made in this regard as well as the issues that are being raised at those meetings.

One million people on the island of Ireland are aged over 60. It is discriminatory to oblige people to retire at 65. I have total empathy for unemployed people but as we get older, we get smarter, brighter and more experienced. When we are young we think it is frightful to be old, but that is not my experience. Part of my work involves acting as Fianna Fáil's Seanad spokesperson on older people. Last year, I launched the All Ireland Inspirational Life Award, which is advertised on page six of The Irish Times today. This award aims to highlight older people who are role models for active participation in society. Another award category is for those who enhance the lives of older people. The third category is for organisations, public or private, which are enhancing older people's lives. Ageism is bigotry. It is totally wrong that free breast screening for women stops at age 64 when women aged over 65 are seven times more likely to get breast cancer and there is no free breast-screening for them.