COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOCIAL, COMMUNITY & EQUALITY SPC
Tuesday, February 21, 2023
HEADED ITEM NO. 8
South Dublin Older People’s Council
The new Older People’s Council (OPC), refreshed as part of the South Dublin Age Friendly programme, have held their two meetings of their new Council on January 13th & February 10th last. The OPC being operational is a culmination of months of public consultation with older people living across South Dublin and the Older People’s Council now has a work plan to guide them through their next five years (see attached). The aim of the OPC is to represent the views of older people in South Dublin County and to influence and inform policy and planning county-wide.
The work plan was also developed through the public consultation process and is based around nine key age friendly themes as follows:
- Communication and Information
- Housing
- Climate Change
- Transportation
- Respect and Inclusion
- Outdoor Spaces & Public Buildings
- Community support & health Services
- Civic / Social Participation and Employment
- Safety and Security
Teh OPC are currently working on developing the 43 actions in their plan into a manageable and achievable programme that will achieve key milestones over one, three and five years based on the draft template attached. This template will be completed and circulated by the next meeting of this SPC in May 2023.
As one of the initial actions under their work plan, the Older People’s Council have designed a flyer (also attached) to be distributed across the county to introduce themselves to residents, clubs, groups and organisations of the county and to start communicate their aims and purposes and to facilitate engagement.
The OPC consists of members from various local groups across the County, including Men’s Sheds, Active Retirement groups, ICA, Community Day Care Groups, Women’s Shed and various other older adult and active aged groups. Its current executive comprises Mary Lyons (Chair), Declan Doyle (Vice-Chair), Breda Kavanagh, Ann Bruton and Clare Morgan.
The OPC’s work will be supported on an ongoing basis by South Dublin County Council’s Age Friendly Programme and the Age Friendly Ireland national shared service and will work alongside both South Dublin County Council and the multi-agency South Dublin Age Friendly County Alliance going forward.