Plan for ‘Age Friendly’ Fermanagh and Omagh launched

A new strategy which sets out a long-term plan of action on how best to support the growing number of older people across the Fermanagh and Omagh District to continue to lead full and active lives, has been launched.

The Age Friendly Strategy, developed by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, working with South West Age Partnership and funded by the Public Health Agency was launched by the Council Chairman, Councillor Howard Thornton, at an Age Friendly Conference which took place on Friday 2 March 2019 at the Lough Erne Resort, Enniskillen.

By 2030 it is expected that 23% of the Fermanagh and Omagh population will be aged 65 and over, compared to 15% in 2015.

Launching the Age Friendly Strategy, Councillor Thornton said that partnership working with organisations and the sharing of valuable knowledge and expertise will be key to the success of the strategy.

“Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is committed to establishing a District in which our older people can live active and engaged lives, making a valuable contribution to their communities. Such is the Council’s commitment to achieving this, a core objective of the Fermanagh and Omagh Community Plan 2030, which has been developed by the Council in partnership with other key statutory stakeholders, is to help older people to live more independent, engaged and socially connected lives.

“The Council has been working collaboratively with South West Age Partnership on a range of initiatives since 2015 and this partnership is key to providing a conduit to reach out to and engage with the older people living in our District.”.

The Age Friendly Strategy has been developed following a programme of consultation and engagement with older people, key stakeholders, service providers and Community Planning partners.

The strategy and action plan provide a practical set of actions to support the District’s older residents to play a full and active role both in their own communities and across the wider District.

More than 100 older people from across the District attended the one-day ‘Age Friendly’ conference.

The conference, organised by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, in partnership with South West Age Partnership and Fermanagh and Omagh Interagency Forum for Older People, with funding from the Public Health Agency (PHA), provided those in attendance with the opportunity to hear from a number of speakers on issues relating to an ageing population.

The keynote speaker was Eddie Lynch, Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland who has significant experience of working to safeguard and promote the interests and health and wellbeing of older people having worked with the Age Sector Platform since February 2008 and as Commissioner for Older People since June 2016.

Other speakers on the day included Vicki Titterington, Linking Generations; Gerry Hughes, Road Safe NI and Trevor Kirke, PSNI; Oonagh Donnelly, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council’s Community Planning Officer and Patricia Donald, South West Age Partnership.

Conference delegates were also given the opportunity to highlight age related issues of concern to conference speakers through a question and answer session and to network with various support agencies from across the District.

The Age Friendly Strategy is available to download from the downloads section of this webpage.