Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan and Monaghan, Brendan Smith, has welcomed €148,000 in funding for Cavan and Monaghan as part of the Disability Participation and Awareness Fund.
Deputy Brendan Smith commented, “I thoroughly welcome funding of €75,000 for Cavan County Council which will go towards Social Farming; a Train the Trainers Course – Disability and Equality Training; and the compilation of a countrywide directory of accessible community facilities.
“€73,000 in funding for Monaghan County Council will go towards a Disability Participation & Awareness Programme.
“These brilliant projects aim to promote the rights of people with disabilities; assist in removing barriers to participation in local and community life and raise awareness of the UNCRPD within communities and local authority staff and elected members.”
The Cavan and Monaghan TD added: “As Minister Anne Rabbitte stated when launching this funding programme, we will use the learning from this year’s fund to help target measures that will make practical changes to participation and integration with the everyday life of our communities going forward.”
The purpose of the Disability Participation and Awareness Fund, which was established by Minister Rabbitte under Budget 2021, is to provide funding to support the participation of people with disabilities in local activities, to help remove barriers to community involvement and to support the promotion and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in communities. In 2021, this funding is being provided through Local Authorities.
ENDS
Notes for the Editor
Purpose of projects/activities
The Disability Participation and Awareness Fund 2021 was announced on the 18th October this year.
Applications were invited from Local Authority applicants up the value of €80,000 around key themes to support the participation and inclusion of disabled people in local communities:
· Participation in community life i.e. sports, the arts, community groups, and so forth;
· Accessible information and shared public places;
· UNCRPD Promotion; and
· Disability Awareness and Capacity Building.
It was open to local authorities to partner with local and community organisations in delivering on projects. Projects were assessed against eligibility criteria and then scored on a number of areas, including the extent to which proposed projects aligned with the stated aims and goals of the Fund.
The full table of projects that have been offered funding can be found here.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was adopted in 2006. Ireland signed the Convention in 2007 and ratified the Convention in 2018.
The purpose of the Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.
22/12/2021