Download A1-R8Q0YQXG5TSB-Ray Citizens assembly

Summary
The fiscal challenges of accommodating Irelands aging population profile are not onerous.
The technicalities in terms of expenditures, flows of savings and investment, a rebalancing
public/private contribution are well established. The NPRF, for example, was established in
2001. It is not a big deal. Aging is not a disease. Is a biological process. In a society that
respects life and intergenerational solidarity, it is an enormous source of social-capital.
The much deeper issue relates to whether an aging population is perceived negatively – in a
quasi-‘Malthusian’ model - and something to be coercively managed by the state. Or,
alternatively, as the vindication of a long-established goal of medical science and social
aspirations to increase life expectancy. The ‘challenge’ here is how best to avail of the greater
scope for ensuring that older age cohorts continue to contribute to, and find fulfilment in, our
knowledge-based economy.
In terms of challenges the key issues related to the funding of social care including health,
and, in this context, the most appropriate fiscal arrangements to accommodate the shift. Such
‘challenges’ are by no means difficult. The NPRF set up in 2001 demonstrates that the fiscal
dimensions are well established, and, in any case are much less onerous than was the
‘austerity’ shock recent years.
In the light of the ideological agenda pursued by the state in recent years, there are legitimate
grounds for inferring that consideration of demographic aging will be a ‘flag of convenience’
for seeking to legislate for coercive means of controlling population trends including
legislation for euthanasia. In other words, what are the reasons this is coming before the
Assembly because on purely technical and financial grounds there are no compelling
pressures?
Conclusion
An important issue, therefore, for the Assembly is whether the underlying ideology is one of
coercive social control of population and family size, viewing family size as a variable to be
manipulated, in a way that is shaped by the labour theory of value and the workforce
requirements of Corporate Capitalism. The alternative perspective starts with the fundamental
rights of individuals to determine the size of their families in the light of their own
circumstances and for the state to respect and vindicate that right.
Ireland’s aging profile is occurring against the backdrop of a knowledge economy (McBrierty
and Kinsella), characterised by intellectual capital as a primary national resource. The
opportunities to integrate an aging population within the production possibilities of the
economy are enormous.