Northern Ireland’s older people’s commissioner to step down in November

Northern Ireland’s Commissioner for Older People will be completing her term of office at the beginning of November.

Claire Keatinge was appointed as Northern Ireland’s first ever Commissioner for Older People in November 2011 to serve a term of four years which she will complete in November 2015.

Her appointment followed extensive lobbying by older people and groups representing them, and there was unanimous political support for the establishment of a Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland who would serve as an independent champion to safeguard and promote the interests of older people.

Claire Keatinge said: “It is a great privilege to be able to serve as the first ever Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland. We are a better and richer society because more of us are living longer and healthier lives than ever before.

“Older people make an enormous positive contribution to society but too often they are not valued, their voices are not heard, and the support that they need is not provided at the right quality or level. I am proud to be an independent champion for older people, promoting the positive aspects of our ageing society, highlighting and resolving problems affecting older people, and advising Government on the changes they should make so that Northern Ireland becomes a better place in which to grow older.”

Keatinge will be publishing a report detailing work over her term on 1 October, and calling for her outstanding recommendations to be implemented by Government.