Bittersweet day for Older & Bolder

It was a bittersweet day for Advocacy group Older & Bolder when the organisation hosted its closing conference in Croke Park yesterday. The main focus of the event was to celebrate Older & Bolder's achievements and to encourage its member organisations to tackle the further challenges and targets with renewed energy.

Older & Bolder director Patricia Conboy was adamant that she and her colleagues did not want a wake, instead they wanted to focus on the journey ahead for the older people who have supported their campaigns over the past seven years.

Older & Bolder chairperson Owen Keenan complimented the representatives of numerous  groups from around the country for their passionate and persistent campaigning. He recalled that over the seven years of Older & Bolder's existence its representatives had defended the state pension; ensured pre-election promises became Programme for Government commitments; convinced politicians of the absolute need for the National Positive Ageing Strategy; pushed for Make Home Work and the right to age well at home to be made a reality and resisted the cuts to home care services.

Director Patricia Conboy added that through consultation Older & Bolder were made aware that the people they represented cared about issues such as income, transport and the quality of health services. "You have signed postcard petitions, contributed to consultation meetings, lobbied Ministers and TDs, participated in photo calls and media launches, attended meetings in the Oireachtas. You have exercised power; you have demonstrated persistence; you have responded to leadership from Older & Bolder; you have shown that this strategy mattered to you; and now we have, for the first time in Ireland, a national strategy on ageing."

Ms Conboy emphasised the sense of shared pride in the work done together. She added that it was her hope that all the members would use their capabilities to continue to work for "the Ireland we imagined together: an Ireland that affirms ageing and the rights of all older people and that enables everyone to live and die with confidence and dignity as equal, respected and involved members of our society."

Minister for older people Kathleen Lynch TD paid special tribute to Older & Bolder and the seven organisations that make up the alliance, for their consistent hard work and dedication in promoting the welfare and quality of life of older people. “I know the work of the seven constituent organisations will continue,” said the Minister in a message to the Conference.

“At the launch of the National Positive Ageing Strategy yesterday I stated that the push from outside Government is often more powerful than the Government itself in effecting change and I would like to commend Older & Bolder for its work in recent years in pressing for the Strategy.

“In addition to pushing from the outside, Older & Bolder was a member of the NGO Liaison Group that provided such valuable assistance in the development of this Strategy.

“While Older & Bolder is coming to an end, I believe that the individual organisations that it represented will continue to be instrumental in progressing the implementation of the Strategy into the future and ensuring that it makes a real difference in the lives of everybody, as they age in Ireland.

“I hope that the valuable relationships that have been built up between my office and your organisations during the development of the Strategy and during last year's European Year for Active Ageing will continue to strengthen as we work towards our shared goal of an age friendly society in Ireland.”

Note:Photographs by Derek Spiers available for free reproduction on request