Introduction

Sarah McElroy began in the role of Age Friendly Programme Manager in July 2025. Since then, the Older People’s Council have had their AGM on 5^th September in Lynhams of Laragh, with over 70 people in attendance. The expected outcomes of the AGM was fourfold;

• Executive Committee elected for Wicklow OPC
• Gain new members of the wider OPC membership
• Publicity of the Age Friendly Programme in Wicklow
• Publicity of the Expo on 30^th  October 2025 in Arklow Bay Hotel

The AGM successfully met these outcomes, with social media posts and a press release on the day, with coverage in 2 editions of the Wicklow People & Wicklow Times after the event also.

There were 15 nominations for the OPC Executive Committee, and since there were 15 places on the Committee, all nominees were duly elected.

The first meeting of the reformulated Executive Committee took place on 11^th September in Rathnew, with the group electing their Chair and Vice Chair , which are now Mai Quaid and Derek Connolly respectively.

Frequency of meetings: approximately every 6 weeks, with weekly meetings in October as extra special meetings for planning for the Expo event on the 30^th October.

Events: As well as the OPC AGM, the first meeting on the OPC Executive Committee included Committee training from the Age Friendly Regional Manager, Caroline Brogan.

Initiatives delivered: 2024 Executive Committee work: (Carina Holmes, previous Chair of Executive Committee of OPC compiled the following;)

-Partnered with the PPN and Wicklow Volunteer Centre to host Roadshows across all five Municipal Districts. Organised “Meet the Candidates” events—because informed voting is age-friendly too.

– “Ear to the Ground” meetings across Bray, Carnew, Aughrim, Avondale, Arklow, Wicklow, Hollywood, Greystones and beyond. Heard from Active Retirement groups, Women’s Sheds, Men’s Sheds, and even the University of the Third Age.

– Executive Committee represented Wicklow nationally—from OPC Chair meetings to the Care Reform Commission—and locally,  pushed hard at Age Friendly Alliance meetings for updates on the 2023–2027 Strategy.

– The 2024 Age Friendly event in Arklow was a great success with over 200 participants: Central Bank speakers, HSE stands, Citizens Information, the Library, and even a band.

– Tackled walkability audits, pushed for loop buses and advocated for “One Stop Shops” in primary care centres—where you can get support, advice, and maybe even a biscuit.

– Advocated for better medical centre staffing, community care hubs, respite for carers, and digital training. Even took on the thorny issue of downsizing policy.

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Wicklow Train Station has been nominated to become the first Age Friendly Train Station  in the County of Wicklow. A walkabilityas done in October 2024 which included people from the OPC, Irish Wheelchair Association, Wicklow County Council and members of the public. We met in County Hall where the participants received a toolkit and explained to them what it involved. We walked up to the Train Station and identified various issues with the footpath , road and surrounding area . We went into the Train Station where numerous issues were identified.

Once the walkability was complete, we went back to County Hall to have a brief discussion on our findings. Declan put the report together and a draft was sent to myself and Emmett Cotter. Next step is to finalise the Report and commence works on the train station.

Contacts