Many older people, and their families, will be glad to bid adieu to 2004, a year which saw a continuing dilution of their rights.
The nursing home issue alone highlighted again that the elderly, particularly the frail elderly, need constant protection and championing. Nearly 12 per cent of the population should not have to seek succour from the Ombudsman's office, voluntary agencies such as Age Action Ireland or broadcaster Joe Duffy to be guaranteed their basic entitlements.
To cherish "all of the children of the nation equally" has a resonance beyond our early years, as the moulders of the 1916 Proclamation intended.
However, the older we get, the more we seem to be ignored, to be regarded as extraneous to the needs of the body politic, the economy, and even social life. The short-sightedness of such attitudes is boggling. Even in purely economic and business terms, it is imprudent in an expanding economy to disregard the possibilities of employing older people, many of whom would appreciate offers of work, or even phased retirement, to bring balance to the later stages of their lives.
Choice is paramount and the failure to offer a range of options to older people diminishes their entitlements as citizens. Various international declarations, as well as Irish reports, have stressed the rights of the elderly and, if there is one underlying theme, it is that senior citizens can legitimately assert their humanity as much as any other group. This Government has tended to side-step the introduction of rights-based legislation, but rights are at the core of good social policy.
Against this background, organisations campaigning for the elderly need to be encouraged to voice the needs of those they represent. A creative, confident government would welcome the challenge from the voluntary sector on how to cater for the vulnerable and would appreciate the role of bodies such as the Equality Authority in bringing such issues to the forefront.
The Tánaiste, Ms Harney, and Minister for Social and Family Affairs, Mr Brennan, are currently involved in matters surrounding the care of the frail elderly. But the assertion of old-age rights goes beyond those who are in long-stay care, sheltered housing, or in need of domiciliary support, to the majority of senior citizens who are well capable, albeit sometimes with minor back-up, of leading busy, independent lives. Indeed, the longing of older people to be included in every aspect of Irish life is increasingly obvious, and any society which ignores their potential undermines not only its expanding older population, but itself.