Ireland’s first purpose built senior community has opened its doors in County Laois.

The Heritage Village in Killenard is based off an Australian model and includes over 160 homes designed for over 55s, as well as a gym and community hub that provides a range of supports from medical care to home maintenance.

Maurice Harrington, a worker at the Heritage Village, told Newstalk reporter Henry McKeane that the houses have been designed with accessibility and mobility issues in mind so residents will “have access to all areas of the house with no issues whatsoever.”

The number of senior citizens is set to double in Ireland over the next decade and by 2036 one in five of our population will be over 65.

According to the Department of Finance, Ireland will require an estimated 15,000 additional nursing home beds by 2040 if current care models are not changed.

 “The reality is, in the next ten years there’s going to be more people in the island of Ireland over 65 than under 18,” Darina Dunne, Chairperson of the Irish Physical Activity Alliance, told The Pat Kenny Show.

"When people get older, they tend to become more isolated, more vulnerable, more lonely, and communities like this are essential for preventing that,” she added.

Marion Dillon has been living in the Heritage Village for over six months while still working parttime as a midwife in Mullingar.

She said that she had been looking for a place to live “for quite some years” but “couldn't really find anything that suited our needs.”

She told Newtsalk that she is looking forward to the place becoming a community as it will help her and other seniors to “keep our social contacts” and “keep active and be involved.”

The senior living village is modelled on the success of similar projects in Australia, where 13% of the population live in some 2,200 retirement villages across the country.

People need “to recognise that there is a stage of life where you need a little bit more support but that shouldn't be that you automatically go to a nursing home,” Ms Dunne said.

She added that sending seniors with mobility issues to nursing homes cost the State between € 50,000 and € 70,000 a year and is not supporting them “to live actively and independently”

She continued the senior community is far more beneficial as “it’s set up to prevent further disease, it’s set up to give you peace of mind and, fundamentally, it’s set up to allow you to have fun.”

Main image: Henry McKean.