Social Participation – Different ways for all to engage: an Irish Perspective Louise Richardson, AGE Vice-President 1

2 Social Participation  Proven benefits for older people and their communities  Link between European Years of:  Poverty and social exclusion  2011 – volunteering  active ageing  2013 – active citizenship

3 Participation of older Irish people in policy making  Active Retirement Ireland  AGE Action  Older and Bolder  Irish Senior Citizens Parliament

4 Volunteering Sporting activities:  GAA – Gaelic Athletic Association  Community Games  Special Olympics  ‘Go for Life’

5 Creativity and the Arts Irish culture  ‘Late Life Creativity’ by Professor Des O’Neill (2011)  Bealtaine Festival  Strategic partnerships with arts institutions

6 Peer-to-peer volunteering and Mentoring  Senior Help Line  Small Household jobs  Senior Help Line  Meals on wheels  The value of mentoring

7 Life Long Learning and Informal Caring  Ireland: lowest % of older people in education  Priority of LLL in White Paper on Adult Education not implemented  The increasing role of older people as informal carers  A cautionary note.... Carers need support and there is a risk of their social isolation and exclusion

8 The Challenges  Ageism and the need to change attitudes  The role of the media  ‘Say No to Ageism Week’  Anti-discrimination legislation and its shortcomings  Changing older people’s attitudes about themselves

9 Engaging vulnerable groups  ‘Failte Isteach’ Programme  ‘Creative Exchanges’ Programme’  Music and story telling as reminiscence therapy  More research!

10 ICT and Digital Literacy  Need for a comprehensive policy  Sharing and Co-ordinating exisitng programmes  A ‘Design for All’ approach  The value of the European AAL programme

11 An Irish Innovation Bealtaine conference ‘Creating a new Old’  Re-defining how participation as we age is defined  Linking key stakeholder to formulate concepts, practices, and benefits  Need for research to assess value of arts in Social Cohesion

12 The value of Age Friendly Environments Current Age Friendly Initiatives:  WHO Age Friendly cities  Irish Age Friendly Counties  Covenant of Mayors and EU virtual network

13 Useful publication Joint publication of European Commission, Committee of Regions and AGE:  Explains what local and regional actors can do to support active ageing and solidarity between generations  Lists EU funding instruments for active ageing projects and gives example of already existing projects

14 Web-link to brochure ‘How to promote active ageing in Europe: EU support to local and regional actors’ platform.eu/images/stories/EN/brochure_ activeageing_en.pd

15 A few last words  87% of older Irish people report a high level of life satisfaction (OECD, 2011)  What about the other 13%?  A life-cycle approach towards participation needs to be adopted  Need to spread and share innovative good practice

16 Conclusion Explore and support new and innovative ways to meet the challenges of changing ageing demographics  More research needed!

17 Thank you 17