A chara, – Active Retirement Ireland welcomes the news that older people are less at risk of poverty in recent years than during 2004, but Dan O’Brien’s analysis thereof (“Elderly faring better than the younger in recession”, Home News, August 10th) is regretfully loaded with blatantly ageist language such as “old folk”, “oldies”, “the aged” and, most ghastly of all, “the wrinkled”.
It is galling that, in this European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity Between Generations, a respected economics columnist sees fit to refer to older people in a manner that would not be tolerated had his ire been directed at an ethnic group or a religious community. Truly, ageism is the last socially acceptable form of discrimination.
As to Dan O’Brien’s assertion that older people’s increased wealth “raises real concerns about intergenerational equity”, what would be his suggestion to remedy these supposed concerns? Solidarity between generations is not a one-way street in favour exclusively of the young. Surely, Dan O’Brien would agree that it is the very wealthy of all ages, and not the old alone, who must contribute to Ireland’s recovery?
We celebrate that fewer older people are suffering from economic hardship, but to assume that all older people are well-off as a result and to suggest measures based on that assumption would be a grave error. – Is mise,
PETER KAVANAGH,
Information Networking Officer,
Active Retirement Ireland,
Mary’s Abbey, Dublin 7.