Westmeath PPN is a ‘model of how it should work’

It is 10 years since the Westmeath Public Participation Network was set up to give community groups a direct channel to local government. The network now has almost 1,000 members and is seen as a model nationally of how the initiative should operate.

Annette Barr Jordan, who describes herself as “the buffer between the community and the council”, said it is now time to review how the PPN is working and specifically, how the Strategic Policy Committees can work better to ensure the network members are heard. She said that a need for training within the council, among the staff that operate the SPCs, has been identified.

Addressing a plenary session of the PPN in Mullingar last week, Ms Barr Jordan said that the PPN members have driven and led policy change over the last decade. In 2016, they developed a protocol between the Municipal District Councils and the PPN and that is still the only such protocol in the country. About 75% of the requests that come through the protocol are granted, but we are looking at updating and relaunching it, she revealed.

Ms Barr Jordan acknowledged that community groups face a lot of red tape when applying for funding and that is being examined.

Among the initiatives that have been mooted by the PPN is the property marking machine. The PPN bought the machine and trained people how to use it, she said. The machine is available free of charge to community groups and is both a deterrent to criminals and a way of ensuring that gardaí can reunite people with their property, once it is recovered.

“Gardaí have sheds full of stuff that they have recovered and they have no idea who owns it,” Ms Barr Jordan remarked. She said that the property marking machine eliminates that problem.

The PPN has been busy and has done a huge amount of work in recent years, she said. She thanked all who attended the event and Shauna Cleary and Mark Ahern for their help in organising it.

Two positions on the PPN secretariat and one on the Local Link Public Transport group were filled unanimously at last week’s event. Vinny Bagnall and Mick Kenny were elected to the secretariat where they join Dave Raftis, Anne Drury, Hugh Farrell, Kathy Whelehan, John Mangan and Teresa Newman. Kathleen Grennan was appointed to the Local Link group.