Introduction

In the late 1970s and early 19 80s, I was involved as Ireland's representative at the United Nations on Human Rights and Social and Humanitarian Matters in early discussions on the implications for individuals and society and for world economic and social development of the process of Ageing. In 1981-82, I was Chairman of the Third Committee of the General Assembly which prepared the First World Conference convened in Vienna in 1982. So it is a particular pleasure and a happy coincidence for me that I have the opportunity twenty years later to address this Second World Conference and to be able to take stock of developments in the meantime, the principal of which is the emergence of the issue of Ageing from its relative quiet start twenty and more years ago to its primary place on the stage of world discussions in the 21St century. Some things are inescapable, such as that we grow older and die. Some things are determined by, or closely linked to, the demographic makeup of societies such as the ability of a society to take on new challenges in development and to respond quickly to a world which is changing at a faster and faster pace. The relative youth of Ireland's population in the developed world - we are greying also but still some 45% of our population is aged 25 or younger - has been a highly important factor in our recent and continuing economic growth and especially in our rapid transition from a society which was largely agrarian to a society which is geared to technology, especially information technology. 

At an individual level, it could be said that the single most important change that has occurred in the last 50 years is the lengthening of the lifespan which has had consequences for every area of life, childhood, marriage, reproduction, education, health, leisure, lifestyle. The way we think of all these states and activities has changed in large part because of the extending lifespan. The way we think of life shortened by malnutrition or disease or lack of development or war has been affected also by the lengthening lifespan because we can see even greater disparities now in the potential of human life and human happiness in the different regions of the world than we could even 20 years ago. 

The Irish Situation

The comprehensive statistical material produced for this Assembly by the Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, projects the proportion of people in Ireland aged 60 years or older as increasing from 15% of the overall population in 2002 to 28% in 2050. While these percentages are low by European standards, this actual increase of 13% is significant and will present challenges for Irish Governments in the years ahead. 

Eurobarometer results, produced for the European Year of Older Persons in 1993, showed that older people in Ireland were positive in their response to various questions asked of them and the overall indication was that they were reasonably happy with their situation. 

Happily, with the improvement to the economy in Ireland in the second half of the nineties, which will hopefully be continuing, the Irish Government has been able to improve significantly the lot of older people across a range of services from Health to Social Security (Pensions) to Housing. 
On the Health side, where the cornerstone of policy is to keep older people living in their own homes as long as possible (which is their wish), very significant additional funding has been made available to increase the level of services in community care (through the employment of extra nurses, home-helps, physiotherapists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, etc., and by the provision of more Day Hospitals and Day Care Centres). Moreover, the level of long-stay care has been increased by the construction of publicfunded Community Nursing Units and the introduction of a statutory subvention scheme to pay for care in Private Nursing Homes. 

However, the Government fully accepts that a lot more needs to be done, and in this regard, the recently-published (November 2001) Health Strategy "Quality and Fairness - A Health System for You" sets out actions which will be taken in the area of services for older people under the headings of: 

·Care for dementia suffers.

·Improved eligibility and assessment.

· Proposals on the financing of long-term care. 

·Integrated approach to care planning.

· Inclusion of consumers in regional advisory panels. 

· Improved support for informal caregivers. 

·Provision of additional 7000 day care places. 

·1370 additional assessment and rehabilitation beds. 

·800 Additional extended care places per annum over the next 7 years. 

·600 additional Day Hospital Beds. 

Pensions

Social insurance contributory old age pension rates have been increased by almost 50% since 1997 - well ahead of increases in the cost of living and well ahead of increases in average earnings. A new Pensions Act has been passed by both  Houses of Parliament which will make it easier for people to take out private and occupational pensions to ensure their future and this legislation will be implemented immediately. As a result of budget surpluses arising from recent economic upturn, the Government has put in place a National Pensions Reserve fund (over _7 billion to date) to guarantee that pension costs in the future can be met when age and working demographics begin to change. A new benchmark for pension adequacy has been set, in line with the national anti-poverty strategy. 

A number of free schemes are available to persons aged 65 years and over, covering Travel, Gas/Electricity, Telephone and Television Licence. 
Political Statement

The Irish Government greatly values our older people and is happy to support the political declaration which is ready for adoption. We are particularly keen to eliminate all forms of abuse, violence, marginalisation and discrimination against older people. I am happy to say that, in Ireland, a major Report on Elder Abuse will be finalised at the end of June this year after two years research work and the setting-up of pilot projects. Resources will be put in place to implement the recommendations contained in the Report, the most of important of which will be the guidelines and procedures for dealing with elder abuse. 

The people of Ireland recognize the achievements of our older people, without whom the present successful economy would never have materialised. 

The importance of research into ageing and age-related issues is fully-accepted and, I wish to pay tribute to the work of the National Council on Ageing and Older People, a body established to advise the Irish Government on matters relating to older people, for their high-quality research work. I am pleased that the Chairman and the Director of the Council are part of the Irish delegation here in Madrid. 

The Action Plan

The Irish Government also welcomes the International Plan of Action on Ageing 2002, into which the officials of the United Nations Economic and Social Affairs Department have put so much time and effort. I am happy to say that we are well down the road on many of the proposals outlined. I might take just one issue, that of `health promotion and healthy ageing'. 

There can be no doubt that health promotion has an essential role to play in improving health and well-being in later life. Essentially, health promotion for older people is about prolonging the period of healthy ageing experienced by most older people, and encouraging full and active participation in society. 

Clearly, health promotion will only achieve the desired results if older people themselves, health professionals and society in general are all convinced of the value of such programmes and, in particular, that such initiatives can help maintain a good quality of life in older people who are well, that they can lessen the effects of illness or disability, that they can help maximise the contribution of older people to society and that they can, at least, partly offset the escalating health care costs associated with an ageing population. 

There can be little doubt that participation is a central component of healthy ageing and it is absolutely right that older people should seek to be empowered and to influence decision-making in all areas of policy and practice that affect them. 

However, if older people themselves are to take a lead role in improving and maintaining their own health, it will mean countering many negative attitudes to ageing that are still to be found in people of all ages. In particular, it will be necessary to counter the view that older people do not benefit from behaviour changes. Consequently, we will need to be especially careful to ensure that older people are not excluded from health promotion activities and from preventive measures routinely offered to younger people. 

Conclusion

The Irish Government will show its commitment to the Action Plan by taking part in the continuing preparations by the Economic Commission for Europe for the Ministerial conference on Ageing, that is scheduled to take place in Berlin in September of this year, and, of course, by participating in the Conference itself. Hopefully, this will help to disseminate the outcome of our work in Madrid this week at the regional level. 

I conclude by thanking our Spanish hosts for the huge amount of effort that has gone into the preparation for our deliberations this week, which deserve the highest degree of success.