New Environmental member on Clare PPN’s Secretariat

by badminme | Aug 2, 2022 | Local Community Development Committee, Members News, PPN News

New Environmental member on Clare PPN’s Secretariat

Clare PPN is delighted to welcome Theresa O’Donohoe back onto the Clare PPN Secretariat following a call for nominations from environmental member groups.  We would like to extend our congratulations to her and look forward to working with her again.

In her own words:

‘I’ve been involved in environmental activism and policy making since 2007. I began to work collaboratively on sustainable community development when I discovered the Transition Network in 2007. I joined a local transition group and we basically went from turning sustainable development ideas into community projects. Some projects succeeded while others did not. I learned a LOT about community development and participation through training and experience. I noticed that many attempts to bring projects to life are blocked by bureaucracy resulting in fatigue and withdrawal by people from participating. Creative, insightful, brilliant people with amazing ideas are beaten down by the system. I’ve done the courses and it’s really the government that gets in the way.

I progressed from projects to analysing and attempting to shape the policy to support the projects. In 2009 I got involved with Laois County Development Board trying to reshape policy to appreciate public participation especially in the transition context. I realised that representative democracy is a joke and that elected officials dependent upon votes are also dependent upon council staff to deliver on their pot hole promises! Therefore they do not rock the boat if they wish to get the jobs done that support their reelection! It’s a vicious cycle.

Turns out changing local policy isn’t enough anyway. Very often the council staff will sit back and refuse to change until they get direction from central government. Effectively – even if they have all these insightful progressive policies that you worked for hours on submissions to infiltrate they will not act upon them unless they are forced to. Of course they need the resources too.

This left me with no choice but to infiltrate national policy. So I became involved with more and more national bodies in order to influence national policy so that local policy can be changed and resourced to accommodate the publics participation in our transition to a resilient, more sustainable society. Also nationally I have been on the steering group of the Environmental Pillar, the environmental social partner made up of Non-Governmental Organisations. I am involved with Transition Ireland and Northern Ireland where I coordinated the People’s Energy Charter. I’m a member of Feasta, Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability and An Taisce’s Climate Change Committee. These have given me an amazing insight into national policy making and governance first hand. I was also a member of the National Economic and Social Council and the National Advisory Groups on PPNs. I am currently a member of Extinction Rebellion and still involved with Transition Ireland and Northern Ireland.

As well as catalysing Laois and Clare Environmental Networks I was a founding Secretariat member of Clare PPN and a cofounder of Futureproof Clare.’

New PPN representatives on the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC)

by badminme | Aug 2, 2022 | Local Community Development Committee, Members News, PPN News

New PPN representatives on the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC)

Clare PPN is delighted to announce two new Clare PPN representatives on the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) following a call for nominations from our social inclusion and environmental member groups.  We would like to extend our congratulations to them both and look forward to supporting their work on this important committee.

SOCIAL INCLUSION REP: Bridgie Casey – Clare Traveller CDP

Bridgie Casey is a member of the Traveller community, she is currently employed as Project Cordinator with Clare Travellers CDP. Previously, Bridgie was employed by CENA (Traveller lead housing body). Bridgie has worked with Traveller organisations at local and national level. Bridgie is committed to working with and for her community to achieve positive outcomes.

ENVIRONMENTAL REP: Bridget Ginnity – Clare Environmental Network

Bridget strongly believes that our towns and countryside in Clare can be an even better place to live if we develop active travel and public transportation options, if we enhance biodiversity and access to nature and upgrade our housing efficiently. Public participation is the way we can achieve the best solutions, and they also reduce our carbon emissions and help us deal with the climate emergency. Bridget brings scientific training and broad experience to these issues –. as a regulatory scientist with the European Chemical Agency (ECHA), as an environmental science and occupational hygiene consultant, and as product manager with air pollution instrumentation companies. She also holds a professional certificate in governance, and is a board member with the Ennis Book Club Festival and trustee of Clare Haven.

INFORMATION ON THE LCDC

The Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) is comprised of Council Officials, Elected Councillors, and various business and community representatives. Among other things LCDC has the job of developing and overseeing the community elements of Clare County Council’s 6 year-long Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP). This is an important committee for Clare PPN and its members and we have 5 seats on it.

For more information: CLICK HERE

Notice of election for Social Inclusion Pillar representative role

by badminme | Jul 20, 2022 | Local Community Development Committee, Members News, PPN News

Clare PPN would like to give notice of election for the following position:

Social Inclusion representative on the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC)

The Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) is comprised of Council Officials, Elected Councillors, and various business and community representatives. Among other things LCDC has the job of developing and overseeing the community elements of Clare County Council’s 6 year-long Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP). This is an important committee for Clare PPN and its members and we have 5 seats on it. The vacancy is for a social inclusion seat and we would encourage nominations from people who do frontline work (either voluntary or professional) in following areas; combatting social exclusion, poverty reduction, anti-discrimination policy making, community development, intercultural and anti-racism work.  This committee meets 5- 6 times per year and the successful nominee will also be required to participate on occasion in other networking, consultation and policy making events with member groups and the Clare PPN secretariat.

Election Rules and Process:

• Only groups who were members of Clare PPN on Wednesday, 20th July 2022 are eligible to participate in this election.
• Only groups who are members of the Social Inclusion Pillar can participate in this election.
• No person can represent Clare PPN on more than one external committee or body,
• Each member group may nominate one candidate and may cast one vote. (It is each group’s named contact person’s responsibility to consult with their own members regarding this).

How to nominate a candidate:

Groups wishing to nominate a candidate must seek their consent first and then must send an email to admin@clareppn.ie with the following information on or before Friday, 29th July at 5pm:

• Name of Community Group.
• Position for which they are nominating a candidate.
• Name of proposed nominee.
• Contact details of proposed nominee.
• A short paragraph (up to 200 words) detailing the nominees’ suitability and experience for the role- this will be shared on social media and on our website in advance of voting.
• A photo of your nominee which we may share with our members and social media followers.

Clare PPN will confirm receipt of nominations by email. Following the close of nominations Clare PPN will circulate details of candidates to our members on Monday, 1st August and online voting will be open until Monday, 8th August at 1pm.  No votes will be accepted after this time.  The name of the successful candidate will then be announced.

If you need any more information or wish to discuss the role further please email admin@clareppn.ie or call 087 1617375

NB: Even if you have nominated a candidate, you will still need to cast your vote to support their election.

Notice of elections for Environmental Pillar representative roles

by badminme | Jul 20, 2022 | Local Community Development Committee, Members News, PPN News

Clare PPN would like to give notice of election for the following positions:

Environmental representative on the Local Community Development Committee (LCDC)

The Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) is comprised of council officials, elected councillors, and various business and community representatives. Among other things LCDC has the job of developing and overseeing the community elements of Clare County Council’s 6 year-long Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP).

This is an important committee for Clare PPN and its members and we have 5 seats on it. This committee meets 5- 6 times per year and the successful nominee will also be required to participate on occasion in other networking, consultation and policy making events with member groups and the Clare PPN secretariat.

The ideal candidate will be a person who is well connected with environmental groups in the area and someone who has a genuine interest in increasing participation and policy development by local groups in Local Government Structures

Environmental Pillar Secretariat member of Clare PPN (and optional trustee of Clare PPN CLG)

Clare PPN is managed by a board known as the Secretariat. This secretariat is responsible for running the Public Participation Network in Clare between plenary meetings.

Clare PPN has three part time staff and an annual budget of €110,700 per year which is provided by the Department of Rural and Community Development and Clare County Council. The secretariat which is a flat structure meets eight to ten times per year with those meetings usually taking place in Ennis, County Clare (currently online due to Covid-19 restrictions). The successful candidate will also be required to attend events and meetings organised by the PPN itself for the purposes of consulting with our member groups.  Secretariat members will be asked to become trustees of Clare PPN CLG although this is not a mandatory requirement.

The ideal candidate will be a person who is well connected with environmental groups in the area and someone who has a genuine interest in increasing participation and policy development by local groups in Local Government Structures

Election Rules and Process:

• Only groups who were members of Clare PPN on Wednesday, 20th July 2022 are eligible to participate in this election.
• Only groups who are members of the Environmental Pillar can participate in this election.
• No person can represent Clare PPN on more than one external committee or body,
• Each member group may nominate one candidate and may cast one vote. (It is each group’s named contact person’s responsibility to consult with their own members regarding this).

How to nominate a candidate:

Groups wishing to nominate a candidate must seek their consent first and then must send an email to admin@clareppn.ie with the following information on or before Friday, 29th July at 5pm:

• Name of PPN member group.
• Position for which they are nominating a candidate.
• Name of proposed nominee.
• Contact details of proposed nominee.
• A short paragraph (up to 200 words) detailing the nominees’ suitability and experience for the role- this will be shared on social media and on our website in advance of voting.
• A photo of your nominee which we may share with our members and social media followers.

Clare PPN will confirm receipt of nominations by email. Following the close of nominations Clare PPN will circulate details of candidates to our members on Monday, 1st August and online voting will be open until Monday, 8th August at 1pm.  No votes will be accepted after this time.  The name of the successful candidate will then be announced.

If you need any more information or wish to discuss the role further please email admin@clareppn.ie or call 087 1617375

NB: Even if you have nominated a candidate, you will still need to cast your vote to support their election.

Cornelia Wahli

by badminme | Jun 14, 2022 | Local Community Development Committee, Members News, PPN News

Cornelia Wahli

Clare PPN Secretariat and staff are greatly saddened by the recent death of our member and representative Cornelia Wahli. Cornelia was a passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated environmental campaigner. Cornelia was particularly interested in minimising society’s use of disposable plastic and of supporting agriculture and the farming community in Clare to embrace organic methods.

She was an elected representative on the board of the public participation network and she sat on Clare County Council’s Local Community Development Committee.  Through this and her involvement in Clare Environmental Network Cornelia gave hugely of her time and talent on a voluntary basis. She was a fantastic colleague and comrade and we’ll miss her greatly. Our sympathies to her family and loved ones.