Policy

(Wednesday 16 June) The deferral of the pension age increase to 67 contained in the Programme for Government has been welcomed by the Stop67 campaign.

Ethel Buckley, Deputy General Secretary of SIPTU said: “During the recent general election there was widespread opposition to the proposed increase in the pension age.  Almost 80 per cent of voters supported parties which were committed to stopping the increase in the pension age to 67 next year.  The vindication of this democratic demand in the proposed Programme for Government is welcomed. It is only through genuine social dialogue and consensus that we can develop a socially beneficial and fiscally sustainable pension system.”

(15 June) Around one in six older people face abuse worldwide in 2017 according to the United Nations. Despite this fact, elder abuse remains invisible. Emerging evidence is showing violence, abuse and neglect of older people has increased since the outbreak of COVID-19. We've also seen many cases reported in the media.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) is an opportunity to raise awareness of the problem and influence key people to stop it. Around one in six older people face abuse worldwide. Despite this fact, elder abuse remains invisible. Emerging evidence is showing violence, abuse and neglect of older people has increased since the outbreak of COVID-19. 

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is an opportunity to raise awareness of the problem and influence key people to stop it.

Connect, Inform, Support

Age Action launches the Getting Started KIT Programme

Supporting Digital Literacy Skills Amongst Older People

(Tuesday 28 April) Getting Started Keep In Touch (KIT), a national learning initiative to help older people improve their digital literacy skills was launched today by Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people. The Age Action Getting Started KIT is a series of  NALA approved How To KIT Guides and a video tutorial presented by Mary Kennedy, to help older people to use a smartphone, or other device, to get online so they are more connected, informed and supported particularly those people over the age of 70 that have been asked to stay at home as part of the Covid-19 response measures.

(18 April) The Alliance of Age Sector NGOs wish to acknowledge the care being given to our nursing home residents during the Covid-19 pandemic, and to call for equal access to appropriate treatment options for all older people guided by the principles within the Ethical Framework for Decision-Making in a Pandemic (Department of Health 2020).

Age alone should never be a barrier to realising one’s right to health.  In its position adopted on 3rd April 2020, Alzheimer Europe considers it unacceptable to systematically restrict access to ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia, or people living in nursing homes.

(14 April 2020) Age Action, Ireland’s leading advocacy organisation for older people, today called on the Minister for Health to ensure there is a nationally coordinated response to manage the impact of COVID-19 on home care provision.

It is expected that up to 3,000 home care workers may be deployed to nursing home settings in the coming weeks to support the COVID-19 response measures which means that some people are being told that their home supports are being reduced or suspended.

8 April 2020: The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) and Age Action have called for the Medical Card prescription levy to be suspended for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis. The IPU said that the measure is proving especially difficult for cocooning patients to administer and that suspending it would remove a barrier to vulnerable patients accessing medicines.

Commenting, IPU Secretary General Darragh O’Loughlin said, “One of the many challenges being experienced by people who are following official advice to cocoon at home is accessing medicines. This is being experienced most acutely by people over 70 or those with underlying conditions, the very people who are more likely to require regular medicines.

 (Tuesday, 31 March 2020) Age Action and Active Retirement Ireland have described the Government extension of the fuel allowance as ‘piecemeal and inadequate’.

 Age Action & Active Retirement Ireland today criticized the piecemeal nature of the Government’s response to the financial challenges facing older people affected by the COVID-19 crisis. They argue that close to 70% of pensioners will not benefit from the announcement.

(2 April) Age Action is a member of the Community and Voluntary Pillar; 14 organisations working to achieve a more equal society.

The Community and Voluntary Pillar submitted a letter to the Editor of the Irish Times which is published today 2 April.  You can read an excerpt below and click the link to the full article.

(29 March) Age Action today called on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to ensure that the HSE take immediate and urgent measures to protect persons with a disability living in large congregated settings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 clusters were reported in 3 residential settings and 17 nursing homes which accounts for 22% of the total number of COVID-19 clusters /outbreaks in Ireland according to data prepared by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre for NPHET on 28/03/20.

An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced new measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 or the Corona Virus on the evening of 27 March.

Included in the measures is a concept known as cocooning; this means that those who are over 70 years or those extremely medically vulnerable should not leave their homes, and within their homes should minimise all non-essential contact with other members of their household. This is to protect those who are at very high risk of severe illness from COVID-19 from coming into contact with the virus.