Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I commend Senator Swanick on the report. I found it incredibly interesting reading. In his introduction to the report, Senator Swanick paid tribute to Jo Cox, the MP who was notable for speaking about the fact that we have more in common than what divides us. She was one of the first to consider the idea of a commission on loneliness and I commend the Senator on taking it up. Sadly, she was lost to violence. Pawel Adamowicz, who was the mayor of Gdansk, had also been praised for innovative forms of civic participation. He was also one of the people trying to drive connections between people. It is important that despite their tragic loss, we maintain the spirit of connection they were championing. Loneliness takes many different forms. People have spoken rightly about the issues of physical and rural isolation. Another thing that comes across is that loneliness and isolation can take different forms. One group I have written reports on and I feel strongly about are those parenting alone as well as those who are caring. People can be lonely when they are not in a situation where they can talk to another adult from day to day. Others may not be in such a position if they are caring for someone. There are, of course, many wonderful relationships between carers and those they care for. However, if a person is in a situation where she cannot express herself to someone she cares for and she cannot reach out, then that is also a form of loneliness. It becomes not only a feeling of alienation but a feeling of alienation from oneself. We see that, for example, with those who are elderly and who are recognised in the community. It can be difficult to believe that a person can express herself even if that person is in a situation where she is unable to be truly there herself. It can feel lonely despite connections. This is something those in residential care talk about. Sometimes, unfortunately, residential care settings do not always recognise the individuality of the people and the personality of the people. That can be lonely despite living with many people.

I commend this report on getting some of the nuances of the different experiences. It also speaks to the experiences of new migrants to the country. If a person does not have inherited family networks and other networks, it can be difficult to forge casual day-to-day contacts.

I want to talk to one big-picture aspect that may need to be given more thought. I will then refer to some specific groups. We need to ensure we follow up and are honest about engaging with the issue of loneliness and isolation, but we need to look at the flip side too, which is community building. This involves the work of building our social and community fabric. There is an unfortunate reality. I do not say this to score points but so that we can move forward. During the recession, more than 180 community development projects were either amalgamated or closed. We had a strong focus on other things. At the time I worked in the sector and I saw this within community development projects. The focus became emphatically on training and employment such that the work of building social fabric fell somewhat by the wayside. There was not as much space for youth groups, for example, or for anti-racism work, multicultural work or work with older people. I am referring to work that was not necessarily about getting each individual back on track and into employment but rather about building connections between people. As I understand it, the second social inclusion and community activation programme is trying to redress that balance somewhat. I am keen to encourage the Minister of State to engage on how community development can work to deliver connections and engagement with people. It needs resources but it also needs the provision of flexibility. I support the call for a budget in respect of loneliness initiatives, but there may need to be a funding line outside the frame of service delivery for community development as well. Such a framework can do something that community development used to do well and can, at its best, deliver. This involves giving people the space to come up with their own ideas and to set the agenda. The idea is that it flips from individual recipients of services to an empowering thing whereby people are almost creating the agenda and creating the ideas.

In that spirit I am keen to endorse the recommendation for adequate community meeting spaces. That is vital, but in many areas it is missing. People often ask where they can meet. If there is an open space, people will fill it with their ideas. Not every idea will succeed and some ideas might be tried for a few weeks but do not catch on. This is the idea of a space where people can, with a low outlay and low bureaucracy, come, bring ideas and try out a new group or new idea. That is important. Building on the sense of public and community meeting spaces is important too. Libraries have been spoken about as well. Inclusive outdoor public spaces are very important as well. One thing other countries in Europe have done better than Ireland is to create a space where people can turn up and be in the life of a town, watch families of different ages and be in a natural way with others. There are many other countries from which we can learn a great deal, including ideas of how we create public chess boards or whatever things give people the necessary sense. Green space is important as well.

I was sorry to see the public allotments at Weaver Square in Dublin 8 close recently. There is an imperative for social housing. I would have preferred to see development of the Player Wills factory, as would many others, rather than the closing of an allotment. It was a wonderful thing for people to be able to go there and be beside each other in a creative way. I urge people to consider the idea of allotments and green spaces as something that we nurture. Child-friendly spaces are important too. We spoke about lone parents and those parenting alone. We need spaces where people can bring children and places where people with a disability can go themselves or with carers and where it is okay to be different in many ways. Sometimes we do not have enough child-adult neutral friendly spaces.

There is one group I am keen to focus on. I am a member of the dementia working group in the Oireachtas. My colleague, Senator Kelleher, has pointed out - it is recognised in the report - that those with dementia who are living alone and who do not have people with whom they can share their concerns can face a particular and deep sense of loneliness and loss. We know from the research highlighted by Senator Swanick that loneliness can lead to depression and heart disease and can be affected by smoking and alcohol.

I used to work with the Older and Bolder alliance. I worked with age organisations across Ireland. We need to deliver the national positive ageing strategy. It is a brilliant template but it needs to be rolled out much faster. I would like the Minister of State to see it through to its full expression. I commend Alone, Active Retirement Ireland, Age Action and all the groups doing this work. They need support. I highlight the work of one in particular. Age and Opportunity has a brilliant scheme called cultural companions whereby people who want to go to arts or creative events can sign up and go with strangers and others. It is about cultural companions. It is a wonderful thing and it means a person need not have a family member or friend who is interested in attending a cultural event. There is a wonderful initiative in other countries whereby doctors can prescribe cultural activities and books. In some countries they have tried out the idea of a voucher to attend a cultural event. A person gets prescribed that. That is something people need sometimes.

This is an area which I hope we continue to discuss. I have a great interest in it. Arts space, respite care and space for carers are vital so that they can build up resources and connections, but they are woefully low at the moment. Everyone realises that and it is something we can fix right now.