The establishment of the Office for Older People and the Office for Disability and Mental Health was "another step towards a better, more co-ordinated, service to the citizen", Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said at Government Buildings yesterday.
Minister of State Máire Hoctor will have responsibility for the Office of Older People and Minister of State Dr Jimmy Devins will be in charge of the Office for Disability and Mental Health.
The arrangements for these two new offices will be similar to the Office of the Minister for Children, which is "widely accepted as having put the needs of children and young people high on everyone's agenda", Mr Ahern told a news conference.
"The idea is to place the needs of the citizen, at each stage of their life, as the centrepiece of social policy," said Mr Ahern
"A key role of Minister Hoctor and her new office will be to develop a national strategy on positive ageing. This is a commitment in our Programme for Government, and will include the development of operational plans by Government departments, setting out objectives relating to older people."
Mr Ahern said the Office for Disability and Mental Health, under Dr Devins, would focus on "supporting the implementation of the Health Sectoral Plan under the Disability Act". It would also "develop closer co-operation between the health and justice sectors on cross-cutting issues relating, for example, to the Criminal Law Insanity Act and the Central Mental Hospital".
Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney said, regarding the establishment of the Office for Disability and Mental Health: "Clearly it's going to lead to an awful lot more co-ordination and coherence than was the case heretofore . . ."