Debate contribution: Ageing Population: Strategic Plan

Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on 25 February 2025.

MLA

Mr Robbie Butler

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

25 February 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Ageing Population: Strategic Plan

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4815133

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Your timing is immaculate, Mr Speaker; it is absolutely perfect. Thanks for that. I thank the Member who — for the first time in 11 years, did you say? — proposed the private Member's motion, and I thank her for her services as chair of the all-party group (APG) on ageing and older people. It is an excellent APG. I also thank Age NI for providing secretariat services to the APG and for its help behind the scenes with tabling the motion. As Mr Kingston mentioned, our population in Northern Ireland is ageing. We have experienced that shift more rapidly than any other part of the United Kingdom or the island of Ireland. Today, in Northern Ireland, one in six people is 65; by 2030, that will be one in five people; by 2040, it will be one in four; and by 2070, there will be just two working-age people for every pensioner. That is a remarkable statistic. The demographic shift is not just about older people but will affect every one of us and impact on the very fabric of our society. Too often, however, the debate around an ageing society is misunderstood. Some try to portray it as simply calling for more services for older people. That is not the case. It is about trying to achieve a system-wide approach in order to ensure that our housing, transport, healthcare and economy are equipped to support an ageing population in a way that benefits everyone. Failing to plan now will place an unsustainable strain on public services, exacerbate inequalities and leave future generations struggling with challenges that we have failed to address. There are multiple priorities — I will not cover them all, because some of them have been covered by the Chair of the Health Committee and by Mr Kingston and the proposer of the motion — but I will talk about two, if that is OK. Housing provision is one of the most urgent concerns — yesterday, we had a debate on the issue that involved the Communities Minister. Our social housing sector is already under immense pressure, with demand far outstripping supply, but what is often overlooked is the fact that housing must be not only available but adaptable. Many older people, including those who once owned a home, now find themselves unable to afford the modifications that are essential to living safely and independently. Without strategic investment, we risk forcing more people into inappropriate housing, hospital stays or even, prematurely, into care homes at huge financial and human cost. Quite simply, we do not build enough bungalows or adapt enough ground-floor properties. We are trying to get people to bend to the infrastructure as opposed to making the infrastructure bend to people. We must also confront the reality of loneliness, especially here in Northern Ireland, for rural dwellers, because isolation and exclusion impact on people. Older people, particularly those over 75, are significantly more likely to experience loneliness. Poor transport infrastructure, particularly in rural areas, compounds that problem. When people are cut off from their communities, their mental and physical health can suffer. A truly age-friendly society must ensure that people remain connected physically, socially and digitally. That brings me to an issue that we have to debate at some stage: our growing push for and, arguably, our over-reliance on technology. Technology should bend to people; not the other way around. The idea that some politicians are calling for an end to paper letters for vital health appointments is, in my view, parody politics. If storm Éowyn and the subsequent electricity and broadband blackout have taught us anything —.

The Member is right.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the extra minute, because this is worthy of debate. It is a noble aspiration — most people can say that they understand it — but the reality is that technology goes down, as happened at the start of my speech: I could not count on my laptop to get me through and needed my paper copy. The Member is right, if what he is talking about is a complementary service, and that digital inclusion costs little. However, it should be digital inclusion, not digital at the exclusion of everything else, which would reduce the quality of the service that the people of Northern Ireland should be getting. Digital infrastructure is not infallible, as is clear by what happened to me today. It should be viewed as complementary and not as the holy grail. Nothing can replace written correspondence when it comes to reliability and accessibility. The Executive must embed ageing-population planning into the Programme for Government, which ensures that our public services, housing and infrastructure are not just reactive but future-proofed. If we get this right, we not only improve life for older people but create a society that will be better for us all, now and in the future.

814 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:01 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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