Think ahead - Preparing for the inevitable

Advocacy group Age Action has called for a ministry to represent the interests of older people in the next government, a call driven by the changing demographics of Ireland’s population. It is estimated that Ireland’s population of older people will rise to something around 1.5m over the next three decades.

This call speaks to one of the weakest areas of public administration and in our culture — our reluctance to embrace the idea of long-term planning. This can be seen again in nearly every election programme as almost all parties’ goals are short- to medium-term.

How much better it would be if we expected a different approach from politicians, if we expected them to facilitate services, everything from retirement homes or communities to reliable pension options. But then we have only ourselves to blame. Politicians can only respond to the challenges they are set — unless of course they embrace the idea of leadership and try to change this society in a positive way by thinking beyond the next election. That could be transformative.