ALONE calls on Mayo election candidates to plan for older people

ALONE is calling on local election candidates in Mayo to take action for the older people across the county.

Mayo has the oldest population per capita in Ireland, with 26 percent of all residents aged 60.

The national organisation enables older people to live at home, and wants local election candidates to transform communities for an ageing population. 

ALONE is calling on candidates to commit to action on the three areas of housing, loneliness and access to services.

“We are calling on all Local Election candidates to commit to making Mayo a positive place to grow old,” said ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan.

“Our population is ageing and the people of Mayo need political leaders who will work for and with them to ensure it is a positive place to live for all older people. Candidates who are not prioritising older people are leaving almost one quarter of their constituents off their agenda," he added. 

Regarding housing, ALONE is seeing more and more older people in the private rental sector, on social housing lists and at risk of homelessness. They are looking for all local election candidates to identify and plan for the broad spectrum of housing needs of older people.

Additionally, according to research by the EU Commission, Ireland is the loneliest country in Europe. ALONE’s request is for local election candidates is to develop a local plan aimed at addressing loneliness across the life course, support initiatives aimed at reducing loneliness and develop a public awareness campaign that highlights loneliness and social isolation, to support and enable the community togetherness and social connection which is so vital at local level.

In relation to access to services, ALONE sees many people unable to access essential support and grants due to excessive bureaucracy and asks that all written materials, forms, and services provided by the Local Authority are provided in an accessible format to all older people, regardless of their digital access or literacy status.

Since its founding over 40 years ago, the population of those aged 65 and over in Ireland has more than doubled, and the organisation said the Government, ‘especially local government’, must plan for this.