Remarks at the Older and Bolder Intergenerational Event
Dublin, 14th February 2012
Dia dhíbh go léir a chairde inniú. Tá an-áthas orm bheith anseo libh ar an ocáid speisialta seo. Míle bhuíochas as and cuireadh agus as an fáilte.
My thanks to the Older and Bolder Alliance for inviting me to speak to you on the theme of solidarity between generations in Ireland, now and in the future. My thanks too for that warm and generous welcome.
I am making my remarks to you today in this the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012 which, as you may be aware, was formally launched in Ireland last week. This is a year for underlining and raising awareness of the value of active ageing in enabling people to live healthily and independently and to remain active participants in their communities as they grow older. It strives to promote greater collaboration and contact between young and old and to promote too activities that will help counter age discrimination and overcome age-related stereotypes, work that is so necessary in our society today.
We are, we know at a very important juncture in Ireland. Like many other countries across the globe, our population profile will age rapidly in the coming decades and although we have currently a significantly younger age-profile than most of our EU partner countries, we know intuitively and from all the demographic projections that the future will bring substantially greater numbers of people living into older age in Ireland in the years ahead.
The fact that our people are living longer is such a positive and when we look back from the early years of the 21st Century to those of the 20th century the comparison is remarkable. At that time the average life-expectancy in Ireland was in the region of fifty years, whereas today, it is almost 77 (76.8) for men and over 81 (81.6) for women. Another welcome and noteworthy feature of life in Ireland is that life expectancy now is rising faster here than in any other EU member state.
The ageing of our population from this point onwards will represent one of the most significant developments that Irish society has ever needed to face - but that reality is something not to be thought of negatively but to be celebrated. Certainly, it will pose challenges and this audience doesn’t need me to rehearse those but it will also bring great opportunities. Those challenges can best be met and indeed those opportunities best exploited by embracing a vision of ‘a society for all ages’ for our country’ - a society that strives to create the best possible environment for growing older, a truly ‘age friendly society’ in the fullest sense and meaning.
That Ireland is one in which people of all ages are encouraged to think positively about their own ageing and to plan sensibly, coherently for later life. An Ireland that recognises and celebrates the enormous contributions that older people have made and continue to make towards our economy, community life, learning, literature, the arts - as workers, mentors, caregivers and volunteers; an Ireland that supports people in their efforts to be healthy, live independently and be full and active participants in their communities as they grow older.
That Ireland is one that ensures older people are not marginalised by ageist attitudes or by actions that serve to limit expectations or the capacity to live in dignity and independence; that serves to dispel the nonsense advanced by some that people are of lesser value, are less interesting or less attractive as they grow older.
Above all, a society ‘for all ages’ is one that acknowledges the interdependence of the generations, recognises that the needs of older people are fundamentally linked to the needs of others and that we must strive towards common goals if we are to function in the best interest of every generation. But that can only happen if the younger and older generations collaborate together to create and maintain the social structures that are both necessary and capable of responding to those needs. And that lesson has perhaps never had more importance because in times of crisis, in the times we live in today, times of transformative change, so much very necessary change, we need to ensure that we continue to value our citizens equally, to ensure that the vulnerable elements in our society whose voices are sometimes difficult to hear, are heard, are not forgotten.
One of the most effective means of nurturing the social contract between younger and older generations, helping to build that society ‘for all ages’ will be the creation of understanding on the part of the young towards the old and of the old towards the young. And isn’t it wonderful to see in recent years such wonderful examples of intergenerational programmes emerging in our country: the Logon, Learn project involving Transition Year students throughout the country in an initiative aimed at teaching computer skills to older learners; the Failte Isteach Programme designed to help migrants develop and improve their English through interaction with older people; elements of the Bealtaine Festival that link older and younger people in arts related programmes; and the projects throughout the country that bring older people into contact with younger people in schools.
We need to nurture and grow these initiatives as we need to develop other programmes that foster the development of what has become known as ‘generational intelligence’. By ‘generational intelligence’ I mean the capacity to put oneself in the shoes of a person of a different age-group; that helps us to see the world through the eyes of an older person or through the eyes of a younger person. I am reminded of the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero who said ‘as I approve of a youth that has something of the old man in him, so I am no less pleased with an old man that has something of the youth. He that follows this rule may be old in body but can never be so in mind.’
In the course of my inaugural address at Dublin Castle last November, I alluded to the fact that we must build a sustainable social economy and a society which is profoundly ethical and inclusive. I invited all citizens, of all ages, to make their own imaginative and practical contribution to the shaping of our shared futures. In that regard, I call on older and younger people throughout Ireland to seek ways in which they can collaborate together to build together an active, inclusive citizenship, based on participation, equality, respect for all and the flowering of creativity in all its forms. I believe that the benefits to emerge as a product of fruitful interaction between older and younger people in our society can be a very significant element in the overall solution to the current difficulties which we face in the Ireland of today.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.