Count Me In! - Including People with a Disability in Local Government Structures and Services
3 March 2009, 10:00am - 4:00pm
DFI’s National Conference took place at the Hilton Hotel, Kilmainham, Dublin on the 3rd March 2009. This year we had assistance in organising the event from our colleagues in some of the Local Authorities.
Purpose of the Conference: The purpose of this event is to bring stakeholders together to discuss how we can all work collaboratively to ensure that the wide variety of needs of people with disabilities are represented within local government structures, and to ensure that the full range of services and facilities offered by Local Authorities and other State Agencies at local level can adapt to meet these needs.
There was a huge attendance on the day with great participation and enthusiasm and we would like to thank all who attended and assisted us with the conference, your participation was greatly appreciated. There was great input and contribution in the five workshops which were held in the morning and facilitated by Local Authority and DFI staff.
The aim of the workshops was to give focus to the Open Forum and also the speakers and questions throughout the day. A key tool to achieving this goal was the ability of all organisations, both Local Authorities and voluntary organisations and DFI to work better together. This allowed facilitators to gauge the issues affecting services and those on the ground before the panel discussions took place.
The Conference opening address was given by Minister Michael Moloney TD., Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children with responsibility for Disability and Mental Health. Following this, there were presentations from Eithne Fitzgerald, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, National Disability Authority and Michael Malone, Manger of Kildare County Council. Michael is Chairman of the Local Government Management Services Board Disability Act 2005 Steering Committee.
In the afternoon we were pleased to welcome Mary Doyle, Assistant Secretary in the Taoiseach’s Department who presented a paper titled, ‘“Towards 2016” Agenda for Promoting Inter-Agency co-operation in Local Service Delivery’. Mary heads the Economic Policy / Social Policy Division. This Division supports the implementation of social partnership agreement, “Towards 2016” and it also works with other Departments and agencies to advance the National Disability Strategy and other social inclusion objectives. Mary Doyle is Secretary to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion.
Presentations were also made by Claire O’Neill, Mayo Advocacy Service for People With Disabilities, Colin Hehir from the Housing Policy and Finance and the Social Inclusion Unit, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Séan O’Riordáin, National University of Ireland, Maynooth. Seán has worked extensively with the Combat Poverty Agency on the social inclusion role of Local Authorities and he was Managing Partner of the Environmental Resources Management Ireland Ltd from 2000-2007.
An open forum discussion took place in the afternoon and this was facilitated by Paul Ledwidge, CEO St. Michael’s House and Vice-chairperson of DFI Board. The open forum included speakers of the day with Rosarie McCarthy of NDA.
Geraldine Clare and Tom Barry assisted with chairing the morning and afternoon sessions. We would like to thank all of them for their contribution for a successful conference.
All presentations are available on www.regonline.com/dfi (click on the tab marked presentations) and a Conference Report is being prepared and will be available in the near future.Including People with a Disability in Local Government Structures and Services DFI National Conference, assisted by Carlow, Cavan, Fingal, Limerick and South Dublin, County Councils Date:...