Mayo Success at Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards
Date: 28-10-2022
The National Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards were held Thursday night, the 27th October in the beautiful Dromoland Castle. The primary aim of these awards is to recognise and reward achievement in age friendly initiatives around Ireland.
This year, eight categories of awards, aligning to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly themes were chosen for the awards. These projects and initiatives have a meaningful impact on the lives of older people in Ireland.
A total of 27 projects out of 221 were shortlisted for the awards, and two out of the three projects shortlisted from Mayo were winners.
Age Friendly Mayo and Age Friendly Clare/ Ireland West Airport Knock and Shannon Airport were named as winner (joint first place) in the Age Friendly Transport Category for the Development of the World’s first Age Friendly Airports.
Both airports became the first airports in the word to be recognised as Age Friendly, as endorsed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in June this year.
An Garda Síochána were named as the winner of the Age Friendly Safety and Security category for their Digital Mapping Older Persons Register, where they developed an App for Digital Mapping of Older Persons Register for the Ballina / Belmullet Community Engagement Area.
The other Mayo project which was nominated for the awards was Mayo Local Link in the Covid-19 Community Response Section, for delivering critical supplies to the elderly and the vulnerable in Mayo.
Guest speakers on the event were Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Peter Burke TD and Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health, Wellbeing and National Drugs Strategy, Frank Feighan TD. The ceremony was hosted by Marty Morrissey with wonderful entertainment throughout the night.
Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Seamus Weir congratulated the Mayo winners saying: “Congratulations to both Ireland West Airport and the Gardaí in Ballina for their wins at the Age Friendly Recognition Awards. These awards recognise the great work that both have done in promoting age friendliness.
“I also want to commend Local Link Mayo for their nomination and all the other groups in Mayo who have made age friendliness a cornerstone of their work and look forward to more organisations taking up the mantle in this area.”
Age Friendly Mayo in conjunction with Mayo County Council would like to congratulate all groups involved for their participation and for the valuable and substantial contribution they have made and continue to make to communities throughout the County.
Pictured left to right: John McCarthy, (Head of Operations and Commercial Services, Ireland West Airport), Maura Murphy (Age Friendly Programme Manager, Mayo County Council), Cllr Seamus Weir (Cathaoirleach, Mayo County Council), Marie Flanagan (Chairperson, Older Peoples Council Mayo), Sr Maureen Lally (Age Friendly Ambassador Mayo) and Kevin Kelly (Chief Executive, Mayo County Council).