CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW

The growth in the number of healthy older people, living longer lives, will have significant implications for policy development in Ireland and throughout the world. Population ageing has been on the global policy agenda for at least a decade, and it is likely to become a more important policy issue in the future as demographic changes exert a greater influence on our systems and services. The key to ensuring that all of us as we age will enjoy a positive ageing experience will be to ensure that we have planned and prepared for the changing future both as individuals and as a society.

The purpose of this paper is to survey the literature, issues, and evidence associated with the ageing of the Irish population. It aims to inform policy making and influence the content of the Government’s Positive Ageing Strategy, by identifying the key issues that are likely to emerge and proposing options for change to be considered by policy makers.

It is clear that the growing numbers of older people in our society will create an additional demand for health and care in later life. This in turn will require a re-examination of our systems and structures to ensure that resources are used efficiently and that these systems and structures are prepared to respond to increased demand. By planning for this new future and developing policies which can transform the challenge of ageing societies into an opportunity we can stimulate economic growth and improve well-being for all people, not just for older people. However “the window of opportunity to plan and prepare is, quickly closing” (World Economic Forum, 2009).

The two previous Irish strategies relating to older people, both 20 years apart, focussed primarily on health and care issues and though the strategies committed to making important changes, many of these were not implemented.

The implication of adopting a ‘positive ageing’ approach is that it focuses on the broader aspects of ageing and applies to all areas of life. This will impact on the content of the strategy, as well as on the participants and the processes involved in its implementation. We are seeking to bring about a paradigm shift from thinking of older people as a burden and a cost to seeing the opportunities afforded by these changes. Allowing the skills, knowledge and experience gained by older people throughout their lives to be used, will bring benefits for the individual concerned, the community, and the country as a whole.

This will require transformational change in many areas and will involve the development of policies informed by the voice of older people and implemented through multi-stakeholder collaboration and monitoring of implementation processes. Change needs to happen across a number of fronts and at a number of levels. It needs to happen at policy level to affect priorities and resource allocation; at organisational level to affect quality and range of supports and services; at individual level to change attitudes and behaviours. It will have to happen across the public, private and third sectors, at leadership and front-line level.

This chapter discusses the background to the development of this report. It introduces the Ageing Well framework and explains how this influences the structure of the report. It also outlines the demographic changes that will result in dramatic changes in the structure of our future population and create the impetus for action on ageing.