Age Friendly
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The Experiences of an Independent Chairperson:<br />
Interview With Nora Owen, Independent<br />
Chairperson Of Fingal <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Programme<br />
The former Minister for Justice and Fine Gael<br />
TD for Dublin North, Nora Owen was asked to<br />
become the independent chairperson of Fingal<br />
<strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> programme in September 2011.<br />
“To be honest, I didn’t know much about the<br />
county’s age friendly programme when I was<br />
first asked to be chair,” she says.<br />
“The key to achieving<br />
the aims of the <strong>Age</strong><br />
<strong>Friendly</strong> Strategy...”<br />
Since then, Nora Owen has become an active<br />
and energetic promoter of age friendliness<br />
throughout Fingal and beyond. “When I got<br />
involved the consultations had already taken<br />
place and the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> strategy was written.<br />
There was a good rounded committee [<strong>Age</strong><br />
<strong>Friendly</strong> Alliance] in place with representatives<br />
from the Gardai, the HSE and the senior<br />
citizen’s forum [Older People’s Council in<br />
Fingal],” she explains. Aware of the significance<br />
of genuine engagement of senior managers in<br />
each sector, she used her personal contacts to<br />
ensure that the HSE became fully involved in<br />
the process. “The advantage of an independent<br />
chairperson is that it can lift the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong><br />
strategy out of the Council so that it’s not just<br />
another policy area that might or might not<br />
work. The chairperson needs to encourage<br />
proactive involvement from all the senior<br />
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