Tag Archives: Clare Age Friendly

ENNIS was launched as an Age Friendly Town, at an event held last Friday morning. It is joining the national Age Friendly Cities and Counties Programme, which aims to improve Ireland as a place to grow old. Writing in the Ennis Age Friendly Town Plan, County Council Chief Executive Pat Dowling said, “An Age Friendly Town should cater for all people. Age Friendly Ireland believes that if you design for older people you will, in the main, design for all of society and it has pioneered the walkability audit tool to capture the experiences of people using their own towns. Collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in Universal Design and the National Disability Authority has led to an even greater understanding of how towns cater for a range of people with differing abilities. People with visual impairments, mobility issues, wheelchair users , as well as older people participated in the walkability audits of Ennis.” He also stressed the importance of …

ONE-fifth of Clare’s older people living in towns have reported feeling unsafe at all times, according to the coordinator for the county’s Age Friendly initiative. Karen Fennessy revealed the findings of a survey of the county’s older residents to last Monday’s meeting of the Joint Policing Committee (JPC). She noted that ongoing cooperation between the Gardaí, the council and other agencies is required to boost the safety of older people in their own homes and in public. Ms Fennessy outlined how an incident at a wedding had highlighted for her the challenges faced by older people. “I was speaking to a woman who had been a nurse and given a huge contribution,” she said. “She told me that when she retired she became invisible. She said that when she goes out in public, she is invisible. She said she’s afraid of groups of teenagers on street corners and she is afraid of falling down. She also said she doesn’t understand …

AN appeal has been made for support for the East Clare business community, as Ireland moves into the second phase of the re-opening of the economy. Addressing the May meeting of the Killaloe Municipal District, Councillor Pat Hayes asked that the local authority might look to the example set in County Cork where a plan had been devised to support 28 towns in re-opening for business. “We depend on rate payers,” the Fianna Fáil member pointed out, “and they depend on public services. Almost every business has had to close and they’re now slowly re-opening. I would ask that the council officials speak to the business community in East Clare to see what they need to get them back on track, with so many restrictions continuing around public health.” The Caher-based councillor noted that Cork County Council had been making strong efforts in supporting its urban centres to resume economic activity after the lockdown. “When you look around the country, …