Elderly care is a duty, not a burden, says archbishop
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has hit out at commentators who talk about the "problem" of an ageing population.
"If you start talking in those terms then very easily, unawares to ourselves, we can begin to look at elderly people as problems," Archbishop Martin said yesterday when he blessed a new complex of 37 homes for older people in Malahide, Co Dublin.
The homes were built and will be managed by the St Benedict's conference of the Society of St Vincent de Paul. It was a local resident, Josephine Denning, who wished that her house and land would be used to provide housing for the elderly. St Benedict's is situated in the local community rather than in institutional isolation that was characteristic of establishments in the past.
Archbishop Martin said society should look on the elderly as people who have given enormous gifts over a number of generations, and still had much to offer today As the physical strength of older people failed, they should be gladly helped by society to live the fullest life possible for the longest period possible, he added.
"As ageing becomes a characteristic of our society we have an obligation to ensure those who have created the good things that we enjoy today are enabled to enjoy their latter years happily. We all owe it to them."
Institutions
Archbishop Martin said that here in Ireland we had generated remarkably good public services for the elderly in their own homes, which had brought to so many older people the joy of being able to stay in their home and in their familiar surroundings. It was a credit to the nation to have provided many health and support services to make this possible, he added.
But Archbishop Martin warned that if economic cutbacks began to weaken the quality of this home-based service, or even demolish it, then society would have to face a real challenge in its care for the elderly.
He added: "Ireland has had a sad story of institutions, and our elderly deserve to receive the benefits of the wealth which they themselves fought for and contributed to."
- John Cooney
