National Positive Ageing Strategy
Background
Like many other countries, the population of Ireland will begin to age rapidly in the years ahead. While currently just over 500,000 people in Ireland are aged 65 or over, by 2021 the number of older people living in the State is expected to be in the region of 775,000, a rise of 55% in just 11 years.
Internationally, many Governments have responded to population ageing by making policy interventions that support and enable people to live healthily and independently and to be active participants in their communities as they grow older. Clearly, we in Ireland must also take the necessary steps to respond to the ageing of our population in the years ahead by developing an over-arching framework for policies ranging across the administrative spectrum that touch the lives of older people in this country. That process began in 2007 when the Government made a commitment to prepare a National Positive Ageing Strategy to ‘better recognise the position of older people in Irish society’ (Programme for Government 2007-2012), created the portfolio of Minister for Older People and Health Promotion, and continued with the establishment of the Office for Older People at the Department of Health and Children in early 2008. Ms Áine Brady TD was appointed as Minister for Older People and Health Promotion in April 2009.
The purpose of the National Positive Ageing Strategy is to identify the provisions that must be made and the plans that must be implemented to ensure the best quality of life for older people in the Ireland of the future. In that context, a key objective of the new Strategy is to help people develop and maintain a positive quality of life as they grow older by encouraging people of all ages to think positively about their own ageing, to plan sensibly for their later years and to facilitate them in adopting the kind of lifestyle practices that will have the effect of ‘adding years to life and life to years’.
In the past, policy relating to older people tended to deal almost exclusively with health and social care issues. However, the National Positive Ageing Strategy will have a much wider focus. In that regard, it represents a new departure in policy-making for older people in Ireland because it acknowledges that the promotion of well-being in later life must take account of the fact that the well-being of older people is affected by many different factors. These include factors relating to older people’s participation in society; the ways in which programmes and services for older people are organised and utilised; as well as issues that are so important in determining quality of life for older people such as income; health and social care; housing; transport; education and employment; and access to information.
For that reason, the new Strategy will focus attention on issues relevant to older people across the public policy process and will put in place mechanisms designed to ensure coherence and integration in planning across programmes and services. It will set out a common framework for the development of operational plans by Government departments clearly setting out their objectives relating to older people, as well as the development of ongoing mechanisms designed to monitor progress and identify challenges facing older citizens in the future. The Strategy is being developed within the constraints posed by the present fiscal situation. Consequently, it is not the intention that it will propose new service developments at this time; rather it will set strategic direction for future policies, programmes and services for older people.
The multi-sectoral approach is also reflected in the fact that the development of the new Strategy is being assisted by a Cross-Departmental Group chaired by the Director of the Office for Older People. The Departments represented on the Group are Tourism, Culture and Sport; Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs; Education and Skills; Enterprise, Trade and Innovation; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Finance; Justice and Law Reform; Social Protection; Taoiseach; and Transport. The Central Statistics Office and An Garda Síochána are also represented on the group. The Strategy is being overseen by the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion.
Work to develop the Strategy began with a two stranded public consultation process involving a call for submissions and the holding of 9 regional consultation meetings which took place between June 2009 and June 2010.
The work of the Cross-Departmental Group to prepare the Strategy has been continuing, with a number of meetings to further progress development held during 2010 and in 2011. Work on development of a draft Strategy is continuing.
