This article is from page 19 of the 2006-07-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 19 JPG
PEOPLE in rural areas of Clare are suffering because of the lack of facilities and an aging population who are becoming increasingly isolated.
That is the opinion being set out by the new Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG), which was officially opened in NUI, Galway last week. The new €3 million centre is the first of its kind in the country and will be advising policy makers as to how to prepare rural areas for an increasingly aging and isolated population.
“One third of the population is over 65 in the western region and parts of Clare, especially towards the west of the county, would fit into this category,” said Aine Ní Léime, Chief Researcher at the ICSG. “The main problem in these areas is the closing down of infrastructure, like the post-offices. The problem is getting worse as young people continue to move to towards urban areas.”
The centre will conduct a number of surveys and study and track the impact of aging on a national scale, as well as taking particular rural areas for special study. In addition to rural ageing they will also be producing advice documents on the financial impact on ageing and the technological impact of aging.
“Clare’s urban areas are fairly well served, but areas to the west of the county where there isn’t an urban centre are suffering,” continued Ms Ní Léime.
“We need to strengthen community links and enable them to make provisions to combat things like isolation and the lack of transport.
“Another major problem in these areas is the lack of carers available with many people who would traditionally have traditionally fulfilled this role now part of the labour market.”
One possible solution put forward by the centre is that the mandatory retirement age should be scrapped so that men and women could work for as long as they wished.
“We want to make plans for the future for the people of these areas because on the whole, rural areas are very disadvantaged compared to urban areas,” continued Ms Ní Léime.
“Rural aging is one of our main areas of research and this will be very important for different areas of country.”