Contact Us
Carmichael House,
North Brunswick St.,
Dublin 7,
Ireland.
Tel. 01 8730455
01 8730986
Fax: 01 8730998
Email:
info@dublincil.org
National CIL Meeting - Saturday, February 26, 2005
Tullamore Court Hotel
Following an opening address by Eugene Callan, CIL, Carmichael House Chairperson, the morning session was taken up with an update on work done since the dissolution of Independent Living Community Services (ILCS). At that time six main areas were prioritised by the CIL Network for development:
- National Advisory Group (NAG)
- Training for Managers
- National Leader Forum (NLF)
- Governance
- Independent Living Movement
- Communications
A progress report was given on all six areas, with particular emphasis on the NAG, NLF and Training sections - which have seen the most progress since the last meeting.
National Advisory Group (NAG)
A report on the work of the National Advisory Group (NAG) was given, as well as discussion of, and feedback on, the NAG draft Strategic Plan and Operational Plan. In general feedback to the plans was very positive. Representatives from Dublin, Clare, Laois, Cork, Leitrim, Mayo, Monaghan, Kilkenny, Sligo, Limerick, Carlow, Longford and Offaly CILs, voiced opinions from their organisation plus, any feedback received from their Leaders where facilitated consultation sessions had been held. Specific concerns were also raised and noted, and ammendments suggested and discussed. A vote was taken on the organisations from both statutory and disability sectors that members would like to see represented in the first full NAG committe.
Training for Managers
Progress of the managers registered on the NUI Maynooth Certificate in Disability Studies course was presented. Participants are due to graduate this year and are currently completing assignments. Feedback on the course and its content has been very positive - any venues/CILs that wish to run a course for the next academic session must return the application form to Maynooth by April 6th.
National Leader Forum (NLF)
National Leader Forum progress was given, outlining how feedback on the draft report drawn from the seven 'listening' sessions held Nationally in 2004, is now being gathered. Rolling out of support and training for Leader Co-ordinators began March 7-9, with a three-day meeting and training event in Clarenbridge, Co.Galway, attended by 25 participants - Leaders, Leader Co-ordinators and others.
Updates on other items were outlined also, including plans for and advocacy campaign to start shortly and to culminate in Strasbourg Freedom Drive 2005! As well as updates to and plans for the CIL, Carmichael House website and plans to run Governance training for CILs this year.
Afternoon
The afternoon session began with Mary Keogh (Forum of People with Disabillities) outlining the 'Claiming Our Rights' (COR) programme - which has an overall aim to transfer knowledge and skills to people with disabilities in order to become effective advocates in their local area and within the National arena. The programme is to operate in four regions in Ireland, with 30 participants in each region. Phase 1 - the first year is about transferring knowledge, culminating in a National Disability Conference on December 3rd. Phase 2 - the second year, will be launched at the conference and is about putting knowledge into action, with a National rollout launch of campaign plans for each region on December 3rd 2006.
Following a presentation on the National Disability Strategy, including the DLCG 'ten fundamental flaws' in the legislation, and further discussion on some of the main CIL developmental priorities already mentioned, the history and future of PATI (Personal Assistant Training Ireland) was outlined. Historically PATI arose from the need for defined and certified generic PA training, which would pool expertise of leaders and others and be officially recognised. Much time and effort was invested in the past by a PATI working party which began to develop training modules. It is planned to kick-start this process once again and develop it further over the coming months.
Cathy McGrath (DFI), who had presented the entire days events, finished the day with an item on DFI membership. At present, although DFI is involved with many CILs nationally, just three CILs have full DFI membership, with a further eight being associate members. Members were asked for their feedback on the benefits, and non-members were asked to consider joining.