Older people from all over the country have gathered in Donegal Town for the annual two-day Convention of Older People’s Councils, where ideas are being shared on how to make Ireland more age-friendly.
Over 31 local authority areas now have Age Friendly City and County Strategies, and as host, Donegal County Council is showcasing some of its most successful programmes.
One of the key elements in its initiatives has been involving young people with the older people in different learning projects, according to Mairead Cranley of Donegal County Council.
The council has set up an inter-generational choir under well-known choral director, Veronica McCarron.
It has also run cookery workshops and organised walkability audits of a number of towns so that the council can work towards improving accessibility for older people.
Delegates at the convention have been sampling some of the Donegal initiatives through workshops and sharing ideas from other areas as well.
This year’s convention theme is ‘Aging Together’, which the organisers say speaks to one of the eight World Health Organisation’s Age Friendly Cities themes - social participation.
For delegates like Janet Gaynor who recently retired, involvement in a project like the intergenerational choir in Donegal has been a fantastic bridge from the world of work.
Mary McGowan from Donegal Town said the various projects in the county have given older people a voice and it’s a voice that’s now being listened to.
Chief Officer of Age Friendly Ireland, Catherine McGuigan said 25,000 older people were consulted nationally in relation to making Ireland more age friendly and while some big issues like housing came up there was huge reference to areas like transport and access to information.
These consultations have informed thousands of initiatives, and she said that what it means now is that Ireland is a country which is being future-proofed, and a country in which our children and our children’s children can grow old gracefully.
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