John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I support this motion and thank Senator Reilly for asking the Government to bring forward plans and policies to cater for Ireland's aging population. He gives the figure in his opening statement that about 638,000 are over 65 years and increasing by 20,000 people per annum. I happened to come across a number of figures from the Parliamentary Budget Office today, where it states that between 1996 and 2016, the increase in the population in the working cohort, that is, those aged 16 years to 64 was 67.4%, whereas from 2016 to 2051, it is projected that the working cohort will increase by 13.9% whereas the population over 65 years will increase by 145.1% over that period. That is another figure to confirm and which is a tribute to our improving health. The health system gets a lot of criticism but perhaps it is not as bad as we are led to believe. The idea of giving people an option of downsizing makes everyone a winner in many ways. A person may relocate or downsize to an area where the services, as Senators Boyhan and Reilly have said, are actually beside them, whether that is the church, shops or post office. That reduces the isolation of elderly people living in other areas and would be effective not just in Dublin, Galway or the big cities but would be equally effective in the villages and towns. I have seen it in operation. Senator Hopkins is aware of such a development in the area around Ballaghaderreen, where both of us live. Elderly people who were living on their own have come from the rural areas into town. They can walk to the shop, to the church and to the GP. I think it is a good model. I will not go into the mechanics of co-operatives or anything else. I want to support the thrust of it. When I say everybody is a winner, I presume that when people downsize, they sell their house so housing is becoming available for larger families. It is a win-win situation.

This model should be supported and I am glad to hear the cross-party support for it around the House.