A project described as "the most ambitious study of ageing ever undertaken in Ireland" was launched at Trinity College Dublin yesterday.
More than 10,000 people aged over 55 will be asked to take part in the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing. They will have their health, social and economic circumstances monitored for at least 10 years.
The information will be used by policymakers in areas such as health, social care, transport and pensions. It will also contribute to research on new treatments for age-related illnesses such as dementia and heart disease.
RoseAnne Kenny, TCD professor of geriatric medicine, will be the principal investigator in the project. She said the increasing number of people living into old age was one of the greatest success stories of this century. Over half of all baby girls born today will live to the age of 100 or beyond. By 2030, one in four Irish people will be over 65.
Ageing on this scale would have significant consequences, she said, particularly as our older people were among the least healthy in Europe. "The percentage of older Irish people in receipt of community care supports is among the lowest in the OECD. We need to know why this is and what needs to be done to develop the best models of care for our older citizens."
Prof Kenny said the study would provide "detailed and comprehensive pictures of the lives of older persons in Ireland, the lives of persons as we age, charting health, social and economic circumstances over a 10-year period".
It would provide "invaluable" data to policy makers planning health, social and care measures.
"But we will also have an opportunity for cutting-edge research in all of those components consistent with the Government strategy to science and technology."
The project, which will cost at least €10 million, has received a €4 million donation from Irish Life, as well as funding from Atlantic Philanthropies. The Irish Life donation was the single largest donation ever made to research by a corporate body in Ireland, she said. More funding will be sought from other public and philanthropic sources.
In addition to Trinity College Dublin, the project partners include Dundalk IT, the ESRI, NUI Galway, the Royal College of Surgeons, UCC and UCD.
Prof Kenny said virtually every Western culture had embarked on such studies "and some as early as 1968" and the Irish data would be compared with these studies.
Trinity College Dublin's provost, Dr John Hegarty, said Ireland had a chance "to learn from the mistakes of other countries and perhaps to leapfrog past those mistakes".
The pilot study will begin next year, with the full study getting underway in 2008. Prof Kenny said the 10,000 participants would be sought in a "knocking on doors" exercise, similar to that conducted at census time. It would be a scientifically representative sample and would be conducted on a totally confidential basis, she said.
The Minister for Health, Mary Harney, launched the study and said the results would help to inform policy decisions in areas such as the care of older people.
The State funded 90 per cent of the cost of care in public nursing homes, with individuals asked for 80 per cent of their old-age pension, whereas just 25 per cent of the private sector care was subsidised. "That is unfair, inequitable and it's not sustainable," Ms Harney said.
