Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome to the House for this interesting and worthwhile debate. I should declare an interest in that, having checked Nealon's Guide, I see that I am the oldest Member of the Oireachtas. I agree with Senator Gilroy in that I do not see anything wrong with the Fianna Fáil motion. I do not think there was a need to table an amendment because it could have been accepted. Nonetheless, I welcome the debate because we should discuss this topic more often. The Government needs to pay much more attention and take more interest in how we handle our ageing population and, in particular, how we will care for our elderly in future. I am pleased the Minister of State is here because I know she is enthusiastic and her heart is in the right place.
Recent research by the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland drew attention to the fact that society and Government do not think enough about the relationship between older people and human rights. The research says that ageism continues to be a major problem in Ireland. Indeed, negative ageist attitudes towards older people are so ingrained in our society that we need to challenge them. That is why this debate is worthwhile. It could be argued that such attitudes go far more unchallenged than other forms of prejudice such as racism or sexism, which are challenged.

However, we do not hear the challenge to ageism. The research states that we need to change the attitudes of politicians, namely, us, and policymakers, namely, us, in order that ageing is not only seen as a social welfare issue. Society needs to move beyond seeing older people as charity cases and move towards a human rights approach whereby they enjoy the same rights as everyone else.

I offer one example of older people's human rights being impeded. Let us consider the fact that older people face barriers in accessing work. As an employer for many years I was well aware of this and did my best to give older people a chance. My business reaped the benefits of an enthusiastic and knowledgeable workforce. When someone reached the age of 65 years we did not instruct them to retire. We recognised that they might want to retire but we encouraged them to come back for several hours a week or several days a week. We got the benefit of that because they were able to transfer their knowledge and the experience they had gained over the years to younger people. It was such a joy on occasion to see so many people come back. One such lady was Betty Reilly. I was in Superquinn in Sutton the other day. She is 86 years old and she invited me to her 86th birthday. She has been with us for approximately 30 years and she comes to work two or three days a week. She does not do a full day but she loves it and she has such enthusiasm.

I remember one man, John Davitt, who came to me approximately 20 years ago. He came to me in mid-December and said that he would be 65 years old on 31 December. He said he realised the company liked people to come back again but that he and his wife had decided that there were things they wanted to do. He said that he had worked in the company for nine years - he had worked at various other jobs for a further 40 years - he had not missed a day and that he woke up in the morning looking forward to going to work. He said he would look at his watch in the afternoon thinking that it must be 4 p.m. only to discover that it was 6 p.m. and that the day had gone faster than he thought. He died on Christmas Day that year, six days before he was due to retire. He had been looking forward to his retirement. His wife died three days later. We had two funerals in the Ballinteer church during that Christmas week. We talked about his words afterwards. He had said that he woke up in the morning looking forward to coming to work and he looked at his watch thinking it would be 4 p.m. only to discover that it was 6 p.m. We said to ourselves that we should set that as a challenge not only for our company but for Ireland and that it would be great to find a way that people of that age could get up in the morning and look forward to going to work. He did so and how sad it was when both of them died in that week.

The question of employment is one I could wax on about a good deal more. The question of care is important as well, as is the question of nursing homes and how we ensure that we have appropriate facilities. There is a need for specialised care for older people. We have an interesting model that is worth highlighting. The problem with regular accident and emergency departments is that they are often small and old. In regular hospitals patients are triaged, which means they go down the list as people with more serious injuries are admitted. They are put down the line because they are not the most serious injuries since they are old. It is decided on that basis.

The rapid access clinic for the elderly in Smithfield, Dublin, funded by the HSE, is a system which caters for those over 70 years and is free of charge. It keeps older people away from hospitals. Instead, if an older person is feeling unwell or has memory problems he or she can be seen in the clinic and then can go back to his or her doctor with an individually tailored care plan. The clinic has been really appreciated by elderly patients. Let us remember that this type of service is preventive care. The acute and non-acute services need not be together. Does the Government have any plans to expand this type of system throughout the country? It is a great system. This example seems to provide a far better and much-needed service to patients and serves as a model for the larger health system.

I welcome the chance to speak on the subject. I am keen to hear whether the Minister of State could address some of the challenges we are hearing about today on the basis of what we are hearing and what we can do.

Reference has been made to the specific area of elderly care. I agree with the notion that we need more policy and more direction in this area, especially for nursing homes. It is great that we live in a State where so much is done to keep people living in their homes independently. My mother-in-law died two years ago in her 102nd year. She wanted to stay at home and she did stay at home for as long as she could, which was until the last year. People want to live in their homes independently. I know several older people who have been able to live independently because of the State. The have home help, which involves someone coming in to assist them with some tasks such as cooking and cleaning. This is backed up by various subsidies and other financial assistance. It makes me proud that we live in a country where we look after our older people like this, unlike some other countries. I imagine other Senators will have examples of older people who can stay in their homes and this is positive to see.

I am pleased to have the Minister of State in the House and to have this debate. I welcome the Fianna Fáil motion and I cannot disagree with the Government amendment either. However, I question whether we should not be able to get together and ensure the best of both is taken into account.