Donegal Public Partnership Network (PPN) held their bi-annual plenary session at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Letterkenny during the week.
Over 20 stands representing community groups from across the county were in attendance to display and promote their activities. There were also a number of individuals who were there on behalf of their clubs/organisations including, First Responders, Alzheimer’s Society, Irish Wheelchair Association, Scouting Ireland and Girl Guides.
There were four main speakers who discussed a variety of topics. Aengus Kennedy of North West Nature spoke about what communities can do to help their environment.
Teresa McGee from Newtoncunningham First Responders talked about their role in the community and how to set up a similar group.
Stephen Barrett of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) gave an interesting talk on what funding may be available to community groups in Donegal.
Pauline Smyth of PEACEPLUS funding informed those attending on the possible opportunities available in the latest roll out of funding from Europe.
PPN Secretariat member, Andrew McNulty, then gave a demonstration on the newly developed Donegal PPN website.
After the meeting everyone had an opportunity to mingle and share thoughts and promote their organisations over refreshments.
PPN Secretariat Chairperson, Joe Boland, said it was a very well attended meeting where representatives went away with plenty of ideas to assist them going forward and provided them with potential opportunities for funding.
“A big thanks must go to the PPN Administrator, Mary Clyde, and her assistant, Annette McGrenra, for putting the programme together and not forgetting Mairead who helped on the night,” he said.
“Finally, I would like to thank the members of the Secretariat who gave up so much of their time in support of over 600 registered Community Groups within Donegal. Remember, the Secretariat is the conduit between the community and the Statutory bodies in the county.”
Mr Boland stressed that, if your group/organisation/club is not registered, they can do so at www.donegalppn.net
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