Public Seminar: The Impact of Poverty in a Changing Ireland
Public Seminar: The Impact of Poverty in a Changing Ireland
9.30am to 1.30pm, Tuesday 7th September 2010 in the Sligo Park Hotel
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Sligo County Community Forum with the support of the Social Inclusion Measures Group are hosting a half day seminar as part of the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion.
So much has changed in a short time in Ireland. Families and communities who were comfortable are now finding it difficult to meet mortgage payments and find jobs. Families and communities who are socially excluded, through low income, poor education, poor accommodation or inequality, are continuing to deal with these challenges, in a changed environment, and find ways to improve their situation.
2010 is the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion. It is all about building commitment to solidarity, social justice and social inclusion. At the seminar we will discuss the nature of poverty in Sligo and explore what measures we can take to address poverty in our communities – by addressing unemployment, through education provision and providing supports to families and communities. In Ireland, children are at the greatest risk of poverty in our communities. Is this the kind of society we want to live in? This seminar seeks to give a voice to those who are marginalised and look at ways to address their needs.
AGENDA
9.30 Registration, tea and coffee
10.00 Welcome Address: Margaret Conlon, Chairperson Sligo County Community Forum
10.20 Keynote speaker: Fergus Finlay (Chief Executive Barnardos) “The impact of poverty and social exclusion on families and communities”
11.00 Maeve Whittington, Development worker, Sligo Social Services Ltd: “Is there poverty in Sligo?”
11.15 Pauline White, Western Development Commission: “Overview of Sligo’s Employment and Unemployment Challenge”
11.40 Break-out to workshops addressing issues of unemployment, education and community/family supports.
12.40 Feedback from workshops
1.00 Open Forum Panel Discussion: “If I could do one thing to tackle poverty in Sligo it would be”
1.30 Lunch
Biography of the Speakers
Fergus Finlay, Chief Executive, Barnardos
Since June 2005 Fergus Finlay has been Chief Executive of Barnardos, Ireland’s largest children’s charity. For twenty years prior to that he was employed as Senior Adviser to the Labour Party, serving in three Governments and working for the Party in opposition. He was one of the drafters of the Downing Street Declaration and was centrally involved in the election of President Mary Robinson in 1990, together with other political events of the period.
Fergus Finlay is the author of three best-selling books. He has founded a number of organisations that campaign for the rights of people with disabilities, and also served a four-year term as Chairperson of Special Olympics Ireland. He is currently Chair of Volunteering Ireland. He broadcasts regularly on radio and television, and contributes a weekly column to the Irish Examiner.
Pauline White, Policy Analyst, Western Development Commission
Pauline has worked as a policy analyst with the WDC since 2003. Key responsibilities include analysis of employment, unemployment, labour market, infrastructure, regional policy and rural issues in the Western Region, as well as preparation of submissions to national policy consultations in these areas. She also wrote the recent WDC report Work in the West: The Western Region’s Employment & Unemployment Challenge (Dec 2009).
Maeve Whittington
Maeve has been working with Sligo Social Service Council Ltd for over 25 years and has a dual role in the organisation, as Home Management Advisory Worker and as a Development Worker. Her work involves working with families and individuals who are experiencing financial difficulties. Her work as a Development Worker has been in supporting marginalised communities to identify and address needs.
Margaret Conlon
Margaret is the Chairperson of the County Community Forum and a voluntary community worker in her native Easkey. She is also the Company Secretary of West Sligo Forum Limited. In addition to this she is the Chair of the County Structure of the North West Regional Drugs Task Force and a representative for Sligo Forum on the Sligo County Child Care Committee.
Who is the seminar for?
The seminar is aimed at the general public, including people who are affected by social exclusion or decreased incomes:
The unemployed, people with disabilities, lone parents, older people, younger people, Travellers and other ethnic minorities, and families who are struggling.
It is also aimed at those working in the community at a local level, volunteers, public and state agencies, schools, colleges, County Councillors and officials.
“People are living in poverty if their income and resources (material, cultural and social) are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living which is regarded as acceptable by Irish society generally. As a result of inadequate income and resources people may be excluded and marginalised from participating in activities which are considered the norm for other people in society”
(Irish Government, National Action Plan for Social Inclusion 2007-2016).
Outcomes from the seminar will be drawn together in a report and used to inform the work of the Social Inclusion Measures Group and the Sligo County Development Board.
For further details on the work of Sligo County Community Forum log onto www.sligocommunityforum.com or phone Claire Galligan at 071 9111 814.
© Sligo County Council, County Hall, Riverside, Sligo, Co. Sligo. Tel:071 9111111 Fax:071 9141119 Email:info@sligococo.ie