Give older people ownership of lives

Sir — Honesty, straighttalking and a reluctance to toe the line sometimes can hamper you when you see an injustice, but never give up when you think your point is valid.

Today, we are becoming more institutionalised. It is far more important to defend the institution than protect older people. To us, that is indefensible. Older people should not be the property of any institution.

Their answer to everything is more control, more centralisation, less democracy and less democratic input and we, the older people, are the ones who are suffering. Institutions should respect and treasure the democratic decision-making of older people. We should feel ownership of our own lives.

Older people should be able to work for a few days a week after retirement age so the economy can be more productive than it has been in a more rigid society.

Today, high levels of informal employment are likely to persist in developing economies, so creating jobs is as important as spurring growth. We must invest in rural Ireland, in rural people, infrastructure, technology, social protection and keep the local shop and post office, especially so older folk can get a pint of milk and not have to travel miles for it or do without.

We need policies to close the gap that exists between the cities and the rest of rural Ireland, between the rich and the poor, between the young and the old.

We must persist in our hopes and our talents so we live in an Ireland that is safe and friendly.

Today a lot of small towns and villages are losing their young ladies to foreign fields. They are the regeneration of those towns and villages. Lose them and the show is all over.

In a sustainable community we should feel safe from crime, violence and persecution. This is why it is imperative to have garda stations in rural Ireland.

There are a few issues that bother the older people today, such as when you see that to produce you need permission from people who produce nothing. When you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in good but in favours. When you see people getting richer by grabbing and pulling than by work and your laws don’t protect you against them but protects them against you.

When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice, society is facing the dreaded day.

Moral courage is a rare commodity. It is the one vital quality for those who seek change. Every time a person stands up for an idea to improve the lot of others, they stand for a ripple of hope. Those ripples can one day bring down the mighty.

You cannot lecture others by power, it is not a game when you’re using the lives of humans as pawns. The power of people is much stronger than the people in power. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the US, once said: “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty.” Michael O’Sullivan, Castletownbere,

Co Cork