Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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194. To ask the Minister for Health to outline the communication process that was used to notify interested older persons in advance of the stakeholder forum on the national positive ageing strategy, which took place in his Department on 30 March 2017; the selection criteria applied for those in attendance; the senior official assigned to liaise with the relevant stakeholders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21269/17]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The National Positive Ageing Strategy (NPAS), published on 24 April 2013, provides a framework for cooperation to address age-related policy and service delivery across Government and society in the years ahead. The Strategy is intended to promote older people’s health and well being so that older people can continue to contribute to social, economic, cultural and family life in their own communities for as long as possible, thereby representing a vision for an age-friendly society. The Strategy highlights that ageing is not just a health issue, but rather requires a whole of Government approach to address a range of social, economic and environmental factors that affect the health and well-being of our ageing citizens.

In advance of the development of the NPAS, given that the Strategy has a wider focus than any previous policy document for older people, it was considered important that the views and opinions of people in all sectors of Irish society could inform its development – public, private, community and voluntary, institutions, agencies and representative groups as well as those of individual older people.

In this regard, a public consultation process, which represented the most comprehensive and wide-ranging consultation exercise ever between Government and older people in Ireland, was carried out.

This consultation process comprised:

- a public call for written submissions (190 written submissions were received from statutory agencies, organisations in the community and voluntary sectors, academic and cultural institutions, as well as from older people themselves);

- a series of public regional consultation meetings which were attended by over 1,100 people;

- meetings between the Minister for Older People and groups representing vulnerable and marginalised older people to discuss in greater detail issues raised in their submissions; and

- a round table meeting in Co Louth to hear at first hand the learnings and experience so far of the Louth Age Friendly County Initiative.

A report of the consultation process, In Our Own Words,was published in 2010 on the Department of Health's website ww.doh.ie.

At the launch of the Strategy, a commitment was made to publish an Implementation Plan to facilitate the translation of the Goals and Objectives of the Strategy into action on the ground. The approach to implementation originally included in the Strategy would have worked where a finite number of discrete and concrete steps could be taken after which the implementation could be deemed complete. However, many of the objectives included in this Strategy are quite broad, and can be viewed as a set of principles to which Government has committed, and which will inform policies that affect older people on an indefinite basis into the future, rather than concrete objectives that can be delivered in the short term.

The Department therefore formulated new arrangements to implement and monitor the implementation of the National Positive Ageing Strategy. The revised arrangements were approved by the Cabinet Committee on Social Policy and Public Service Reform on 27 October, 2016.

The new arrangements establish mechanisms that will give stakeholder groups effective and on-going access to Government Departments and State Agencies relevant to older people. This includes an annual Forum for stakeholders to identify what they consider to be their key priorities for Government for the coming year and the next three years; and establishing clear channels of communications between stakeholders and relevant Government Departments. In this regard, relevant Departments will be requested to assign a named senior official(s) to engage with stakeholder representatives on issues relevant to their remit, in order that the priorities identified by the stakeholders at the Forum can be pursued.

As noted by the Deputy, the inaugural stakeholder Forum took place on 30 March 2017. Civic society organisations who are representative of the needs and views of older people in Ireland were invited via direct written communication to attend the Forum. Other groups and individuals who are not members of NGO organisations, but who would have an interest and expertise in the area of older people and ageing, and who expressed an interest in attending, were also invited. The wide range of attendees present at the Forum resulted in interesting and diverse discussions. Although the various organisations may have differing focuses and concerns, the Forum was an opportunity for stakeholders to reach a consensus on the matters of most importance and relevance to older people. At the Forum a stakeholder representative group was formed by the stakeholders to progress matters arising from the Forum, directly with the relevant Departments.

The Department of Health, as secretariat, will shortly communicate with each of the Government Departments identified as having responsibility for the priorities agreed by stakeholders, in order to inform them of the context of the NPAS and the Forum and to make them aware of the issues raised at the Forum relevant to them. This will assist in setting a foundation for the stakeholder group to engage with the relevant Department thereafter. The Department of Health will meet with the stakeholder representative group in late 2017 to establish progress made and assist with any issues arising.