Age Friendly City
Over the next 30 years, the number of people in Ireland over the age of 55 will double and the number over 80 will quadruple. Ireland is now in an ideal position to prepare for successful population ageing. Ireland’s Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme is a national programme being rolled out across the country to ensure that our counties, cities and towns are age friendly and meet the needs of older people.
It is adapted from the World Health Organisation’s Global Age Friendly Cities and Communities Programme, which says that,
“In practical terms, an Age Friendly City adapts its structures and services to be accessible to and inclusive of older people with varying needs and capacities."
Dublin is the first capital city in the world to have adopted a city wide approach to becoming age friendly.
Dublin City’s Age Friendly Strategy 2014-2019 is a five-year plan to improve the quality of lives of people over the age of 55. The strategy was launched on 10th September 2014.
Download the full “Dublin City Age Friendly Strategy” in pdf format below.
This is a high-level, overarching strategic partnership that brings together representatives of older people in the city with the public, as well as voluntary, community, academic and private sectors. The City Wide Alliance oversees the realisation of the goals and actions of the strategy and supports the work of the local Area Alliances.
This involves key local stakeholders reflecting sectors represented on the City Alliance. The development and implementation of the Age Friendly Area Section Plans are the responsibility of the Local Area Alliances. Each Area Alliance will be supported by an Older Persons' Council, a Service Providers' Forum and an Age Friendly Business Forum, all representing local interests.
This is a representative group of older people, established by local authorities as part of the development of the Age Friendly City/County Programme. The group of older people identify priority areas of need, raise issues of importance and inform and influence the decision-making process of the City or County Age Friendly initiatives. Representatives of OPC participate, alongside representatives of the relevant member agencies, on the Age Friendly City/County Alliance.
In addition to taking on specific commitments related to the implementation of the Age Friendly City/County strategies, the Older People’s Council also provides a citizen of service user perspective in monitoring the implementation of these strategies. The Older People’s Councils are, over time, intended to be representative of the diversity of the older population in the city and county, linked to local older people’s groups and supportive of the participation of the most marginalised.
For administrative purposes, Dublin City Council is divided into five areas. An Older Persons' Council and Age Friendly Alliance have been set up in each of these areas.
For further information on your area, please contact your area coordinator on the details below:
- Central Area:
- Niall Byrnes, Community and Social Development Officer
T. 086 8150341
- Niall Byrnes, Community and Social Development Officer
- North Central Area
- Aileen Doyle, Community and Social Development Officer
T:086 8150649 or E: [email protected] - Madeline Ebbs, Community & Social Development Officer
T:086 8150286 or E: [email protected]
- Aileen Doyle, Community and Social Development Officer
- North West Area
- Ciaran O'Mahony, Community and Social Development Officer
T. 086 8150799 or E. [email protected]
- Ciaran O'Mahony, Community and Social Development Officer
- South Central Area
- Mary Noonan, Age Friendly Alliance co-ordinator
T. 01 222 5104 or E. [email protected]
- Mary Noonan, Age Friendly Alliance co-ordinator
- South East Area
- Robert Chester, Community and Social Development Officer
T. 086 8150932 or E. [email protected]
As part of the delivery of the ‘Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness 2016’, a series of ‘Pathfinder Projects’ were identified. The Dublin Age Friendly Housing with Support Project is one of just two pathfinder projects focused on meeting older people’s housing with support needs.
The challenges of responding to the Covid -19 pandemic impacts on the wellbeing of everyone in different ways and at different times. While we cannot do the usual activities we normally would do to keep healthy and active, there are two excellent resources available to download below; “Stay Home Stay Active Stay Healthy” and “Let’s get moving again” exercise booklets.
The Dublin City Guide to Age Friendly Communication provides very useful tips and steps to take when communicating with members of the public. Communication methods mentioned are applicable to all members of the public, not just to older people. Dublin City Age Friendly believes that when you design for an older person, you are encompassing a whole community.
Message in a Bottle (MIB) is a simple idea, designed to encourage people to keep their personal and medical details on a standard form and in a common location: the fridge. The bottle contains an information leaflet that is kept in a small plastic bottle with a push-fit lid and then stored in the fridge, where emergency services will expect to look for it in the event of being called to someone’s home.
While the Message in a Bottle project focuses on more vulnerable people in our community, there is a benefit for everyone as accidents can happen to anyone in their home. 10,000 bottles were distributed by Dublin City Council’s housing and community staff to relevant tenants/groups; while members of the general public can pick one up, free of charge, from their local area office.
For further information on Dublin City Age Friendly Programme, contact Beatrice Casserly on the details below:
Beatrice Casserly
Dublin City Age Friendly Programme Manager
Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
T. 087 9140107
E. [email protected]
This is a new programme being rolled out within Dublin City Council. Its goal is to help people to live in their own home with dignity and independence, for as long as possible. The majority of people want to remain in their own home as they age but there are often challenges which make this difficult.
With the right assessment and supports, a person’s home can be adapted to allow them to remain independent. Your local Healthy Age Friendly Homes Coordinator will visit you at home to carry out an assessment of what supports are needed to help you to continue living independently in your own home.
We can provide information on adapting your existing home and the relevant grants available to support you to make those changes.
We can also provide you with information about a range of housing, health and social care supports to help you decide on what you need to enable you to live to the best of your ability within your community.
For further details visit Age Friendly Ireland
Or contact your local coordinator [email protected]