Age Friendly Ireland held their annual national networking event with the NGO sector on 9th October in The Ashling Hotel.
The event encourages information sharing and collaboration between Age Friendly Programme Managers in local government and NGOs in the ageing sector.
Siobhán McArdle, Assistant Secretary from the Department of Health with responsibility for Older Persons, Mental Health, Drugs Policy, Social Inclusion and Unscheduled Care, gave a keynote address, speaking about the significant reform of health services underway through the Slaintecare programme, the restructuring of the HSE into Regional Health Areas, collaborating with TILDA and the World Health Organisation, and the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Other presentations on the day allowed participants to learn about:
- Services available from the Retirement Planning Council, the Irish Hospice Foundation, and St Vincent de Paul Housing;
- Active Retirement Ireland’s supports to keep older people socially engaged;
- Issue experienced by older people in the farming community;
- A new Care & Repair programme in Ardee County Louth that provides gardening supports for older householders;
- Healthy Ireland funded health and wellbeing projects on off-shore islands; and
- Age Friendly Ireland’s international engagement.
Ita Healy, National Chair of the Older People’s Councils network, commented on how much progress has been made in Ireland in providing services and supports for ageing communities. She commended all the initiatives saying that older people’s quality of life is greatly enhanced by the work of the NGO sector and local Age Friendly Programmes.
