Report by secretariat member George Atijohn from Clare PPN’s first County Plenary Meeting of 2017.
The meeting started with a welcome message and a brief introduction of what Clare PPN worked on in 2016 which as well as all the routine work of running the PPN included The Green Shoots Gathering – an environmental conference which took place in the Glor Theatre Ennis and which was oversubscribed.
The #ClareHowAreYa? well-being survey which attracted nearly 400 responses.
Clare PPN’s collaboration with the Clare People Newspaper in publishing a special issue of the paper at Christmas which contained Proclamations written by school children from all over Clare.
Clare PPN also hosted workshops and training for its representatives and secretariat in media skills and mediation and in social media and there are plenty more such events planned for members and representatives for the year ahead.
Questions were asked by the old and new members about the activities of the Clare PPN
The following questions were asked:
How much budget can PPN spend on training? The PPN’s budget was explained with members being told of the amounts which go towards salary, rent and representatives expenses and the remainder being available to fund the PPNs training, promotion and events budget.
Is there any tangible outcome from the PPN’s reps participation in the various SPCs that have by now been running for about two years? This question provoked some discussion- with members of the LCDC explaining that many of the changes achieved were incremental and so were difficult to account for. Clare PPN’s resource worker explained that the previous year had mostly focussed on getting everything in place and in order and that 2017 would see the focus change towards making participation as effective as possible.
Who controls the marketing budget within the PPN? The Secretariat
Is there a difference between pillars and colleges? No
What does social inclusion mean? This was explained and it was agreed to revisit the definition to ensure that this college is comprised of groups working on poverty reduction, and the active inclusion of marginalised communities.
Can you be members of two different groups? Yes, but you may only be a contact person for one.
The following appointments were ratified at the plenary
Graham Lightfoot’s appointment to Clare PPN secretariat
Mary O’ Donoghue’s appointment to Clare PPN secretariat
Oonagh O’ Dwyer’s election to the Fisheries Local action Group.
Eugene Crimmins’ election to the Leader Programme Community Development and Social Inclusion Advisory Committee
Ger O’ Halloran’s re-appointment to Clare Sports Partnership.
Members were informed about the vacant seat for the social inclusion on the secretariat, and for the new Rural Development Forum and the LTACC. It was explained that elections will be held to fill the vacant positions beginning in February.
Members of the Clare PPN present split into 3 colleges (Environment, Social Inclusion and Community and Voluntary) to deliberate on their work plan for the year ahead and the suggestions were all compiled for Clare PPN secretariat’s strategy day which takes place on Tuesday 28th Feb. It was agreed that both the environmental and social inclusion colleges would begin to meet as colleges more regularly with the environmental college’s first meeting due to take place on Feb 27th.
Finally two matters of Clare PPN’s policy were decided:
Firstly it was decided that Clare PPN would call for Ireland to ratify the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Ireland is the only country in the EU which has not ratified this convention even though we signed up to it almost ten years ago and this is now an aim of Clare PPN.
Secondly a decision was taken that Clare PPN recognises Housing as a Human Right as defined in the UN Convention on Human Rights and The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and will carry out all its work on housing issues with that in mind.
On November 27th 2016 Clare PPN held its first ‘GreenShoots Gathering’ in the Glor Theatre in Ennis.
The day included talks, networking, a film screening and some great workshops which we had filmed. If you missed them you can watch them here:
Emanuela Russo runs Leaf and Root Community Supported Agriculture Project in County Galway and is the Coordinator of the Nyeleni Europe food sovereignty newsletter http://nyelenieurope.net/
Professor Terrence Mc Donough is Professor Emeritus of Economics from the National University of Ireland Galway and his own work can be found on his website here http://terrencemcdonough.ie/
Dr Orla Nic Suibhne of UCD is carrying out research on Sustainable Energy Communities in Erris County Mayo and for the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.
Clare PPN has been invited to elect a person to the board of Fisheries Local Action Group West (FLAG West)
What is FLAG West?
FLAG stands for Fisheries Local Action Group and these are community led local development organisations which aim to place the community living in fisheries and aquaculture dependent areas at their centre. Groups of people representing defined geographical areas in the form of Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) are charged with identifying the challenges to development in their own communities and developing initiatives to address these challenges. Through Local Development Strategies (LDSs), FLAG’s seek to facilitate participation by all parties who wish to contribute to this process,
thus ensuring that each LDS is as representative of the community view as possible. The FLAG group will have the ability to distribute and allocate funding to various projects which are identified under each LDS.
A briefing document about the purpose and remit of FLAG groups is attached here:
Interested candidates may also e-mail Mr Seamus Breathnach, FLAG West Co-ordinator for more details of the role at breathnach@bim.ie or call him on 095 32028 / 087 9093273
Person Specification:
This person must live in one of the coastal areas of County Clare and it would be beneficial if they have been active in community development in coastal areas, with candidates who have experience of marine and coastal tourism, environment, or fishing being most welcome. A female candidate is preferred due to the current gender balance of the board.
The role has a three year term with approximately 4- 6 meetings taking place per year and basic travel and subsistence expenses will be paid by FLAG west to the nominee. As well as a briefing by the organisation’s chair there will be training provided to the successful candidate on an ongoing basis.
How to Nominate a Candidate:
Current Member groups of Clare PPN who meet the membership criteria can nominate one person each – we recommend that each group’s contact person makes their members aware of this election and seeks their input.
The person nominated must also be a member of a group which is a member of Clare PPN.
The person nominated must live in a coastal region of the county and must have agreed to their own nomination.
We need you to send the name, group, address and contact details of the nominee as well as the proposer’s name, group and contact details to me sarah@clareppn.ie along with a brief description of the nominee’s suitability for the role- no more than 200 words.
Please be aware this information about the nominee will be shared throughout our network and on social media so please ask for the nominee’s consent before sending.
Nominations must be submitted on or before October 10th after which all candidate details will be circulated to members and they will be asked to vote by email for the candidate of their choice with a cut off date for voting of Wednesday 19th of October 2016.
Clare PPN would like to draw your attention to the fact that a new consultation period to allow people and organisations to contribute to the National Drugs Strategy for 2017 was launched on September 6th and will end on October 18th 2016.
This period will include a series of regional public meetings where attendees will have the opportunity to meet the Minister of State Catherine Byrne, and to make submissions to the strategy. The closest meeting for Clare people will take place in Limerick’s Strand Hotel on Wednesday 14th of September 2016 from 2- 5 pm
To register and secure your place for representative(s) of your organisation, please RSVP to fiona.curranlonergan@rpsgroup.com by 5pm on Thursday 8th September, 2016, or before.
More info on meetings:
Mr John Carr (Chair of the National Drugs Strategy Steering Committee), Ms. Susan Scally (Principal Officer, Drugs Policy Unit) and a number of guest speakers (including service users) will address participants. There will be opportunity for interactive discussion on the existing strategy and the issues participants think are important to inform the new strategy. All feedback received, during the consultation process and including feedback received during these events will be collated into a Public Consultation Report for the Department of Health. Participants at the events will be invited and encouraged to make a submission during the public consultation period.
Short notice for all our environmentally inclined groups: There is a call for submissions from the public on the development of Ireland’s first statutory National Climate Change Adaption Framework (NAF) This is a national consultation and the deadline for submissions is May 20th 2016 all details in the link below.
