She told how her parents were vibrant and independent people up until three years ago, when her father fell and badly injured himself. He had to be treated in hospital where, in his weakened state, he contracted MRSA and ulcers and is now in permanent care. Her mother, who was devastated at not being with her husband, developed rapidly deteriorating dementia and also needs fulltime care.

The story was harrowing . . . both from the point of view of the parents, whose quality of life is non-existent, and the children, who are now carers and bear both the practical and financial reality of looking after their parents.

With our ageing population and concerns over a shortfall in pensions, is this the future scenario that lies ahead of us all? The woman at the centre of the story I mentioned has been locked in a bureaucratic nightmare with the UK health authorities for three years trying to find out what financial and practical help her parents are entitled to.

Their care has taken over her life and that of her sisters to the point where they feel that their own families have been neglected.

Advertising campaigns from the Irish Pensions Board tell us that we are facing trouble because not enough of us, particularly women, have pensions. But what kind of a pension will provide round-the-clock care on a long-term basis? The state can't be expected to deal with the impending burden of the elderly but neither should their families.

With advances in modern medicine and healthier lifestyles, most of us are expected to live longer. But what use is having a longer life, propagated by medication, if you become a burden to your children and unable to enjoy your life? The mother of the author of the article I read can barely lift her sheet up to cover her body, she has dementia and she can't speak, can't walk and is partially paralysed.

While I do not agree that the prospect of a future like this one should lead us all to smoke and drink our heads off and lead unhealthy lifestyles in order to avoid old age, I would like to know what the plan is for the elderly. We should all be concerned about whether adequate contingency plans are in place to deal with the impending problem.

We should be putting in place robust systems now, whereby every elderly person is given access to a decent level of care, regardless of their circumstances. The families, who face tough choices about where their parents should live, should not be made to jump through hoops in order to find that place and have it funded.

The elderly should not be forced to have to worry about their care as they advance in years or to feel that they are becoming a life changing burden on their children.

How to pay for this 'luxury' is the problem facing both the state and us as private individuals. Seamus Brennan ruled out the possibility of compulsory pensions when he was the minister with responsibility for social and family affairs. But just as each person who earns a wage in this country has a duty to think about how to finance their potential care and their income in retirement, the state must have adequate provision in order to support those who will not be able to afford it.

Healthier lifestyles may lead to us hanging around until we are heading into our 90s but it won't be much fun if our children are bankrupt trying to pay for us to be looked after, while they ring the GP to find out exactly how long we have left.