Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)

I also welcome the Minister of State in whom I have great faith. The Taoiseach's nominees imagined the notion of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee. We might not have been the first to imagine it because "there is nothing new under the sun", as John Donne said, but it was brought about by the Leader and the House itself. The first consultation was on the rights of older people, and some of the stakeholders are in the Visitors Gallery. Sometimes, I feel they should be in my seat because they know more than us from their experience, knowledge, inspiration, history, productivity and communication. I was nominated a Senator to represent, to be a conduit, a voice, a doer or a champion and to legislate. The Minister of State has the privilege of being appointed as an implementer.

The rights of older people to primary community and continuing care services and in all aspects of their lives as they age with grace and dignity is no longer a priority of conversation. We can no longer argue it is a priority of cost in the context of the uselessness and incompetence of the banks and the money we put into them but it must be a priority of implementation.

I would like to make two points. The first is I will be 60 in September and I do not know how that happened. It is like I woke up one morning and I was 60 in a flash, although I feel 37. My mother is 89 but she thinks and laughs like a 50 year old. Life passes quickly and it is only when one reaches one's 50s and 60s that one realises this. I associate two words with ageing, one of which is profundity. That word is there because it is about a life well lived and all that implies. The other word is "urgency". I do not feel a sense of urgency in the Seanad, although it may be in the back of our heads, regarding the implementation of the strategy for positive ageing. Urgency is needed because nothing can keep at bay age and age's wrinkles, which is a marvellous line from Hopkins. In other words, it is urgent and crucial that the strategy be implemented; that primary community and continuing care services be put on a statutory footing for all elderly people; that people grow old in their own homes and have access to all the services that make that possible; and that this becomes their statutory right.

I have been in the House for one year and it has been a great privilege, but when I worked in third level education, I became used to achievement and the finishing and implementation of goals within specific deadlines - work well done and seen to be done - because after three years, a student had to be crafted, formed and educated to go out into society, look up and contribute in whatever way. I find that this does not happen in politics but it should. I have a belief in the Minister of State that she might be able to reverse that trend in the context of older people. She, of all people, may be able to do that and insist that the public consultation committee recommendations be implemented as a priority and not take "No" for an answer. If we cannot look after our old, we cannot look ourselves. The recommendations are as urgent as age and ageing.