Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 April 2024
627. Deputy Violet-Anne Wynne asked the Minister for Health the steps that have been taken towards developing a UN convention on the rights of older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18764/24]
View answerThe Government is strongly committed to protecting the rights of older people. This commitment is reflected in a range of ongoing policy initiatives, including the recent establishment of an independent Commission on Care for Older People; the ongoing development of a statutory home-support scheme; the ongoing reform of the long-term residential care sector; and the ongoing development by my Department (in partnership with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth) of a national policy on adult safeguarding in the health and social care sector. More broadly, that in 2019 Ireland became the first country to be formally designated as ‘age-friendly’ by the World Health Organization bears testimony to the Government’s commitment to supporting positive ageing across the life-course as well as to ensuring that older people can continue to live independently in their homes and communities for as long as possible. Internationally, the Government supports the enhancement of the framework for the protection of the rights of older persons. Ireland co-sponsored the resolutions on older persons at the 51st regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (12 September–7 October 2022), which contained language on ‘the possible elaboration of a multilateral legal instrument on the rights of older persons’, and at the 54th session of the Human Rights Council (11 September–13 October 2023), which took note of gaps in the existing human rights framework for the protection of older persons. Ireland’s UN Permanent Mission in New York will be following closely the 14th meeting of the UN Open-ended Working Group on Ageing (OEWGA) which will be held from 20–24 May 2024. The mandate of the OEWGA is to consider the existing international framework of the human rights of older persons and identify possible gaps and how best to address them, including by considering, as appropriate, the feasibility of further instruments and measures. The agenda for this meeting includes a section dedicated to ‘consideration of the proposed intergovernmental negotiated recommendations submitted pursuant to decision 13/1, regarding the existing international framework of the human rights of older persons and possible gaps, and options on how best to address them’.
