Minister Seán Canney TD published the PPNs Annual Report 2018 on 25th September.
Fingal PPN continues to perform strongly with a 25% growth in membership in 2018, delivering 63 events throughout the year, supporting a number initiatives across the local authority including the Fingal Mayor’s Community Volunteer Awards and supporting community submissions on issues such as BusConnects and the Dublin Airport Local Area Plan.
The Minister recognised the growth of the PPN’s stating that: “In 2018 there was a 16% increase in the number of groups registered with PPNs in comparison with 2017. Increasing membership reflects what is happening on the ground and the positive impacts PPNs are having for their communities in such a short space of time.”
Outside their normal engagement, PPNs are acting in partnership with local authorities, and collaborated on a host of events and initiatives in 2018. These include; age-friendly initiatives, sports partnerships, community awards, disability awareness, men’s sheds, digital strategies and support of women’s groups. PPNs are also actively engaged in raising the awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are influencing local policy aimed at delivering on these goals.
Michael Walsh, Secretariat Facilitator of Fingal PPN states: “Fingal PPN is growing from strength to strength. 2018 was our fourth year in operation and clearly demonstrated the commitment of our 715 members to the PPN locally here in Fingal. It was our busiest year to date with the appointment of new Linkage Group Facilitators, the launch of our Strategic Plan and the development of our Fingal Wellbeing Statement. 2018 also saw an increase in resources for the PPN, both administrative and financial which resulted in the PPN increasing its capacity to deliver more benefits to our membership. It is great as well to see the Minister acknowledge the PPNs crucial role in influencing local policy in delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals.”
Jamie Moore who coordinates Fingal PPN added: “The strong performance of Fingal PPN is down to the commitment of our volunteer led Secretariat who are representatives of the community. Alongside the Secretariat we had 24 community representatives sitting on decision making committees of Fingal County Council such as the Strategic Policy Committees and the Local Community Development Committee working on an ongoing basis to ensure the voice of the community is heard. At the core of all of this are the meaningful functioning or our Linkage Groups and the PPN Plenary of all our members.”
In concluding, Minister Canney re-iterated the Department of Rural and Community Development’s commitment to the continued strengthening of PPN’s. He also congratulated the National PPN Advisory Group for their work in both the preparation of the Annual Report and their work with the Department in the development of PPNs.