A chara, – Several of your esteemed commentators have written letters bemoaning ageism and their perceived victimisation by society at large, and yet many older people have never had it so good. Ireland’s life expectancy continues to increase, and older people are consuming an increasing proportion of Ireland’s ballooning health expenditure. Older people have been favoured by earlier access to vaccines, despite many younger frontline workers being more exposed to potential infection. Many older people were able to live quite well on one salary coming into their household while today’s young married couples need two salaries coming in to pay the rent. Many older people had secure jobs for life while today’s young are increasingly employed in the precarious gig economy where there is no certainty of income and where obtaining a mortgage is almost impossible.

Source: The Irish Times May 11, 2021 23:08 UTC