Older people in Louth to benefit from Age & Opportunity funding

Age & Opportunity is marking the distribution of its Active National Grant that provides significant funding for sport and physical activity amongst older people, with the provision this year of €7,340 to 28 groups in Louth.

The Grant Scheme is a combined initiative from Age & Opportunity and Sport Ireland with funding provided by the Government. This year it is providing over €300,000 to support sport and physical activities run by 1,167 groups and organisations. These range from Active Retirement Groups, ICAs, Men’s/Women’s Sheds, Physical Activity Leaders (PALs), care settings and other sports and social groups.

The successful Louth groups are: Aclint Community Hall (Aclint National School), Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Boyne Women's Shed, Broomfield Men's Shed, Collann Cailini, Collon Bowls Club, Connect FRC, Cooley Connect Well, Drogheda & District AC, Drogheda District Support 4 Older people, Monday Morning Club, Drogheda Filipino-Irish Community (Dfic), Dundalk ICA, Dundalk Presbyterian Church, FAUGHART SOCIAL GROUP ARA, Fetching Go For Life, Haggardstown & Blackrock Community Centre CLG, ICA Marshes Guild, Kilkerley ICA, Lifestyle Development Group CLG, Louth Local Sports Partnership, Omeath & District Active Retirement Group, Omeath District Development Co. Ltd, Ravensdale ICA Guild, Reaghstown Walkie Talkies, Termonfeckin ICA Guild, Togher And District Active Retirement Association, Tullyallen Active Retirement Assoc, Westerns GFC.

Speaking about the grant, Sport Ireland CEO, Dr Úna May said that the funding “is helping to create an Ireland where more older people can be more active and more connected.

"The long-running Age & Opportunity Active National Grant Scheme has proven an excellent resource and I also want to acknowledge our own national network of Local Sports Partnerships who do wonderful work in communities across the country.”

Karen Horgan, CEO of Age & Opportunity, welcomed the ongoing partnership with Sport Ireland, saying that the funding is “helping us create an Ireland where more older people are more active and more connected.

“We are delighted to note the number of successful applications from sports clubs who are seeing an increase in the numbers of older people joining their activities. Indeed many of them are specifically organising courses to cater for older persons.”

“We are also delighted that this year 414 successful applications were from designated disadvantaged areas. In addition, there were 105 successful applications from care settings. The renewed focus on providing meaningful activities in these settings is particularly welcome given the impact that Covid-19 has had on older people in these settings.”

The Grant Scheme is part of Age & Opportunity’s Active programme, funded by Sport Ireland, and delivered nationwide with the support of the HSE and Local Sports Partnerships. Visit www.ageandopportunity.ie.