Oral history interview of Mary Nally


Context: Mary Nally is the founder of Third Age Ireland, an organisation that recognises and celebrates the fact that older people are a diverse group with different needs, abilities, backgrounds, and experiences. Mary began the organisation in Summerhill in 1988 and oversaw its development for many years before her retirement in 2018. As a chief executive officer, she established services and activities for older people in the village and wider catchment area and established a national profile offering training for older people to support their peers across national programmes. At her time at Third Age SeniorLine, originally Senior Help Line was born to provide a telephone support service to people at home and Fáilte Isteach came into being to offer free language classes to Ireland’s emerging migrant population. Mary has received several awards for her work, including an Ashoka Fellowship and The Rehab People of the Year Award.
Description:: The fourty-four-minute long oral history interview was conducted by the Digital Repository of Ireland as part of The Atlantic Philanthropies archive project (2017-2020) titled Amplifying change: A history of the Atlantic Philanthropies on the island of Ireland in 2020., In this interview, Mary Nally gives the background to why she established Third Age Ireland following her realisation that there was very little in rural communities for older residents to stay active. Mary explains how a group of senior citizens met regularly in Summerhill in County Meath in Ireland and how they designed a programme of activities for themselves including taking part in Senior Games in Denmark and helping to teach English to newly arrived migrants. She explains how The Atlantic Philanthropies grants helped senior to senior peer support phone line Senior Help Line and establishment of their educational programme 'Fáilte Isteach'. Mary also details how she realised the unique Third Age building, which incorporates a purpose build primary care centre. Mary talks about her role in the former National Council for the Elderly and reflects on what problems remain and what needs improving in the lives of senior citizens in Ireland in 2020., and This recording contains the personal views of the participants, they do not reflect the views of the DRI.
Type:: audio and oral histories (literary works)
Creator:: Digital Repository of Ireland, 2015 -
Subject:: Curated collection--Oral histories, Curated collection--Communities, Curated collection--Senior citizens, Atlantic Philanthropies (Organization), Third Age Foundation, Curated collection--Communities, Curated collection--Senior citizens, Grant 13978, Grant 22091, Population aging, Non-governmental organizations, Older people--Services for, and Curated collection--Mary Nally
Grant:: Grant 13978 and Grant 22091
Grantee:: Third Age Foundation
Year of Grant:: 2005 and 2013
Location of Grantee:: Summerhill
Rights:: Copyright is with DRI and Mary Nally. Please see license for reuse.
Attribution:: Digital Repository of Ireland and The Atlantic Philanthropies
Doi:: https://doi.org/10.7486/DRI.gt550919x