Fair society - No cutbacks at expense of elderly

IT IS important to reflect on our priorities and decide on the kind of society we desire.

Many people are too busy getting on with the struggles of daily life to spend much time pondering about such issues.

In the coming years there are undoubtedly going to be major changes. There will have to be cutbacks because the country has been living beyond its means.

In the Global Competitiveness Report, published yesterday by the World Economic Forum, Ireland was ranked last of 142 countries when it comes to budget balance. In fairness, however, it should be noted that the EU recently decided to provide us with fresh bailout money because of our economic reform measures and our budget trimming.

The current cutbacks in society should not be at the expense of elderly people, as they have little influence. They do have a voice at election time, but society requires that the system should be operating smoothly on a continuing basis, and hence it is vital that people listen to what most concerns elderly people at any given time, not just at election time.

Elderly people are a vital component of society. There are currently 690,000 people aged over 65 in the country. It is important that they are listened to.

Many of the older people regard themselves as docile rather than self-assertive. They explain this by the fact that their parents’ generation was not assertive. Hence, the publication yesterday of the report Older People — Experiences and Issues should be welcomed.

The report is based on a survey of 600 elderly people conducted in 43 different urban, provincial and rural centres by independent researchers on behalf of St Vincent de Paul. It found that loneliness is the biggest problem facing older people living alone.

The loneliness is particularly acute in rural areas, especially with the cutbacks in public transportation and the closing of rural post offices and Garda stations. Older people find that there is no one to whom they can complain about poor public services.

Security at night is a particular concern in rural areas, but it is also a serious worry among elderly people living in urban areas. They are particularly fearful of being attacked in the street or at home.

Many of those on state pensions said they were only just able to manage financially, and there was a strong sense of unfairness about stealth charges that eat into their incomes. This sense of unfairness is compounded when they compare their circumstances with the extravagant lifestyles of the political class and the bankers.

In a republic all citizens are supposed to be treated equally, yet we have been witnessing the shocking extravagance of the public service in providing exorbitant severance packages and excessive pensions to the spoiled few. Some of those people were essentially being rewarded for incompetence.

This is not just an abuse of position, it is a gross betrayal of the republic.