Clare PPN reports on its activities and finances to both Clare County Council and the Department of Community and Rural Development. For Clare County Council we prepare quarterly reports and for the Department we report on an annual basis. You can read our most recent report at the link below. We welcome any comments on it from our member groups- you can drop us a mail at admin@clareppn.ie Clare PPN April to June 2019
Here’s Clare PPN’s Newsletter for June with news of funding, events, training and other items related to community and voluntary groups in County Clare. Just click below on this link here and it will bring you straight to the newsletter. Clare PPN June 2019 Newsletter
Remember if you’d like anything included in our newsletters which go out approximately every two – three weeks just drop us a line on admin@clareppn.ie and we’ll do our best to include it.
The outgoing chair of the Money Advice and Budgeting Service in Clare, Denis Carty sent us this report linked below which documents his findings that in Clare the service receives less funding than other counties with comparable populations. He wanted us to draw this to our members attention and we thank him for his work. Please see the report below or check out this link to an infographic explaining the situation: https://infogram.com/inequality-in-the-distribution-of-funding-for-money-advice-and-budgeting-services-1h1749050kml4zj
Report in PDF form: A Raw Deal? The Resourcing of MABS in Clare FV PDF
The following Clare PPN representative positions are up for election:
Member groups from each pillar (community & voluntary, social inclusion or environment) can nominate one candidate for that particular pillar representative position and a vote will be held for each pillar. Only groups which were members on 28th May 2019 can nominate a candidate. If you are not sure which pillar your group belongs to please contact: admin@clareppn.ie
The successful candidate will be required attend six LCDC meeting per year (plus a brief pre-meeting on the same day at Clare PPN), four Clare PPN plenary meetings per year and the occasional pillar group meeting. Feedback after each LCDC meeting will also be required. Clare PPN is now in a position to provide significant support for anyone who decides to take on this rewarding position.
The LCDC is very important (see below) and needs a strong voice from the community & voluntary, social inclusion and environmental sectors in the county.
For a nomination form please contact: admin@clareppn.ie
Nominations close at 5.30pm on Friday 7th June
LCDC publishes Clare Survey findings
The Clare Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) has published findings of a new survey of more than 1,000 adults across Clare focusing on the county’s health, well-being and quality of life.
The Clare Survey, a strategic action of the Local Economic and Community Plan, will be used by Clare County Council to strengthen national funding applications such as the Rural and Urban Regeneration Funds and to direct resources to those areas of the county most in need. The survey will also be utilised as a benchmark to measure progress for strategies such as Local Economic and Community Plan and the Healthy Clare Strategy. Clare County Council says the localised information contained in the survey results will complement data available under the Census and the Survey of Income and Living Conditions.
The survey, which was conducted by independent market research agency Behaviour and Attitudes Ltd. in late 2018, explored topics such as Education, Employment Status, Health & Well-being, Attitudes to Mental Health, Social Engagement, Technology and Transport.
The Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) is a subcommittee of Clare County Council and includes representatives from Clare Public Participation Network, local state agencies, the community voluntary sector as well as other local development and interest groups. The LCDC has prepared and oversees the implementation of the community elements of the Local Economic and Community Development Plan (LECP) which is a 6 year strategy for the county. The committee also developed the Healthy Clare Strategy and manages the Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme (SICAP) for Clare. In addition funding programmes such as the Healthy Ireland Fund and the Community Enhancement Programme are overseen by the LCDC committee.
Below, please find Clare Public Participation Network’s Submission for the consideration of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice & Equality in respect of Ireland’s system of reception and processing of claims for international protection and of the direct provision system currently in use.
Click here to read the submission: International Protection Submission Clare PPN
Clare PPN is a network of 287 community, voluntary, environmental and social inclusion groups based in County Clare. It exists to facilitate the formal participation by the community sector in Clare County Council’s decision making structures and in national and EU consultations where appropriate. It is funded jointly by the Department of Rural and Community Development and Clare County Council but is autonomous and its activities are directed by its members through an elected secretariat.
At Clare PPN’s plenary meetings which are the decision making fora for the network, delegates have on three successive occasions (twice in 2018 and again in 2019) adopted a position of opposition to the system of Direct Provision being used for those seeking international protection in Ireland. They have taken this position on the basis that direct provision is contrary to the best interests of all of those who are accommodated, in particular children and vulnerable adults and that the enforced segregation and dependency created within the system is detrimental to community cohesion and rural development. Our member groups include people seeking international protection in Ireland themselves, as well as organisations working directly with refugees & international protection applicants. Clare PPN itself has worked with international protection applicants from Knockalisheen and from The King Thomond Direct Provision Centres in Clare on numerous occasions and have benefitted from their input to our activities.
We welcome the opportunity to make this submission and hope that by lending our organisation’s voice and experience to this national issue that we can help the government realise the actions that need to be taken to end the system of direct provision which is currently in crisis and worsening.