A new podcast, ‘The Old Country’, exploring healthy ageing in Ireland has been announced today, Thursday, 22nd July 2021. The 12-part series, produced by Active Retirement Ireland, will look at issues around ageing such as combatting ageism, age-friendly environments and integrated and long-term care.
The podcast is hosted by politician, activist, broadcaster and Mayor of South Dublin Peter Kavanagh, and each episode will feature a guest involved in making Ireland a better place to grow older, from older people themselves to activists and policy experts. Fortnightly episodes will examine the challenges and opportunities which an ageing population brings.
The podcast, which is available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify and iTunes and through the Active Retirement Ireland website, has been created to mark the beginning of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing and is supported by the Community Foundation for Ireland.
First Episode
The first episode will be available to listen to from tomorrow, Friday, 23rd July 2021 and features Anne Drury, President of Active Retirement Ireland, speaking to Peter Kavanagh. In the episode, Anne discusses how she joined her local Active Retirement group initially to teach yoga, which led to her decade-long involvement with the organisation. Anne also reflects on what it means to age well, and how to make the most out of retirement.
The next two episodes of The Old Country will feature:
Commenting on the launch of The Old Country podcast today, Mayor Peter Kavanagh said: “With the ever-increasing popularity of podcasts, now feels like the right time for something to cater for our older population. With The Old Country, we are really excited to tell the story of ageing in Ireland. The podcast will explore the challenges, highlight some of the great opportunities and discuss how we make the experience of ageing in Ireland as positive as possible.
“We know how much our retired population in Ireland have to offer through our work with local Active Retirement Ireland groups. We also know that they will become a larger proportion of our population: by 2030 the population aged 80 or above will increase by between 89 per cent and 94 per cent, according to the ESRI. This is a major shift in the demographics of our country. This podcast is all about sharing insights from those making the most of their older years, and how we can better our older years through community, wellbeing and a positive attitude towards ageing.”
The podcast is available to listen to from 11am tomorrow, Friday, 23rd July 2021 at www.activeirl.ie, or on:
Speaking further, Peter Kavanagh said: “We understand that some older people may never have listened to a podcast before. We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible for people to tune in. Simply click below to hear the trailer, and every other Friday we’ll feature a new episode right here on our website.”
