Cork City Council to partner with businesses to offer seating and toilet access to older people under new strategy

CORK City Council is to partner with businesses to offer additional spaces for older people to sit down for a rest and go to the toilet while out and about, under the city’s Age Friendly City Strategy 2025-2029, which was agreed last week.

The council’s chief executive, Valerie O’Sullivan, said in a foreword to the 19-page policy document that the strategy is based on a review of the implementation of the previous programme, and on a comprehensive consultation process which brought older people from across the city and key service providers together.

The strategy is based on four key principles: Respect, contribution, connection, and advocacy — which were identified during consultations with older people via University College Cork’s Cork Conversations consultative process.

Altogether, the strategy has 42 actions, covering topics such as health, housing, transportation, communication, and civic participation.

It aims to ensure all voices are represented through engagement with older people from minority backgrounds such as migrant or Traveller communities, the LGBTQ+ community, people living in long-term residential care, and people with disabilities.

Housing actions include tackling fuel poverty, ing independent living, and helping to provide deep cleans and decluttering services.

The strategy aims to create increased opportunities for social participation through community events and activities, to ensure these initiatives are well communicated, and to develop increased opportunities for volunteering for older people.

Encouraging voting amongst the 55+ cohort, increasing age-friendly principles and awareness in businesses and workplaces, and increasing the number of age-friendly parking spaces are also part of the plan.

Two key initiatives are the Leeside Leithreas initiative and the Take a Seat initiative in businesses and workplaces.

The first is a sticker scheme which proposes that businesses near amenity areas would agree to make their toilets available to the public through a discrete window sticker.

The second suggests the setting aside of a small number of existing outdoor seats at restaurants and pubs for use by older visitors, without having to buy anything from the participating premises.

Cork City Age Friendly Alliance will oversee the implementation of this action plan through its regular meetings.

The alliance is an inter-agency partnership comprising of senior personnel in public sector, not-for-profit, and community organisations that promote a positive approach to ageing.

Member organisations include Cork City Council, the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, An Garda Síochána, Cork Education and Training Board, Bus Éireann, Cork Age Friendly Forum, the HSE, Cork Business Association, Cork Chamber, and Irish Rail.

The Cork City Older Persons Council, a representative group of older people established by the local authority, will report on progress at alliance meetings.

It is made up of an executive committee and a wider hip base with public quarterly meetings held in City Hall.

Older people will also be encouraged to participate in these representative bodies and forums, to ensure their voice is heard.

Multi-agency steering groups may also be formed to implement key programmes, and Cork’s Age Friendly Programme manager will attend national and regional Age Friendly Ireland meetings and training, and work directly with the national office on specific projects where required. A mid-term review of the strategy will be undertaken in the latter half of 2027.

The strategy was widely welcomed at last week’s meeting of Cork City Council, at which it was ed.

Fianna Fáil councillor John Sheehan, a GP in Blackpool, in welcoming the policy document, said: “In Cork and around the world, we see an increasing ageing population, but it’s a very active population.

“Now people in their 60s and 70s are considered young; hopefully that will continue.

“They go to Lanzarote in January. I go running every week with somebody who is 78 years of age and I struggle to keep up with him — these are examples of people living healthy, active lives. That can only be done if the spaces are there for them, spaces in of parks and greenways, but also community spaces; Men’s Sheds and community groups.

“It all needs to come under a strategy, because so much of what we do as a city makes a difference in of people being able to live well in their communities, to a good age, and where they want to live.

“Having a strategy takes a lot of those factors into consideration, and I look forward to us as a council and as a city embracing the many aspects of this document, so that our citizens get the quality of life they deserve.”

Anyone interested in more information on the strategy can Siubhán McCarthy, Cork City Age Friendly co-ordinator, by email at [email protected] or by phone at 0214924560 or 0860123479.