Do you ever think of getting old?
This 'Seven Days' report examines attitudes to ageing and the elderly, and the loneliness and isolation experienced by many older citizens in a big city.
This excerpt from the programme features young people around Dublin city centre commenting on growing old and what old age means to them. Some of those interviewed never think about growing old, others live in the moment, and for others, it is not a worry.
If you're 19 or 20 or perhaps even twice that age, you probably don't think very much about getting old. But we're all going to get old whether we like it or not
Reporter Forbes McFall examines the experience of loneliness and isolation that is a reality for many older people. One extreme case is that of Mattie Kelly, 65, who lived on his own and died on his own. He was dead for four days before he was discovered. McFall meets some elderly Dubliners and asks the question
What's it like to be old and to be lonely in a big city?
Geriatrician Dr John Fleetwood says that the older you get the more likely you are to have periods of loneliness.
A 'Seven Days' report broadcast on 16 March 1976.
