THE Mayor of South Dublin County Council, Cllr Paul Gogarty, officially launched a €300,000 ‘Have Your Say’ initiative for the Clondalkin Electoral Area at The Round Tower Visitor Centre, Brú Chrónáin last week.
The money has been allocated for the Clondalkin Electoral Area (Clondalkin, Newcastle and Rathcoole).
Residents, through a combination of locally facilitated workshops and an online consultation portal (www.consult.sdublincoco.ie) are invited to submit their spending proposals for this extra budget.
Participatory Budgeting is an innovative democratic process which facilitates citizens in a local community to directly decide how to spend a portion of a public budget in their area.
It gives people direct power to determine spending priorities and to improve their community.
Speaking at the launch, Mayor Gogarty said: “I am delighted to be able to offer our citizens the opportunity to get involved and have a say in how this extra funding can be used to benefit them and their community across the Clondalkin, Newcastle and Rathcoole areas.”
Throughout March the initiative will be widely publicised on local and social media and in workshops in the following locations:
Neilstown Community Centre, Clondalkin from 7pm (Tuesday, March 13), Green Isle Hotel, Clondalkin from 7pm (Thursday, March 15), Peamount Football Club, Newcastle from 7pm (Tuesday, March 20) and at Rathcoole Community Centre from 7pm (Thursday, March 22).
All members of the community are encouraged to attend.
And all are invited to bring the kids along and let them see how a democratic process works.
During April 2018 proposals will be assessed, selected and costed and then put forward for a public vote. Online voting will be available. Furthermore a number of voting stations will be set up locally for people to vote in paper format, if they do not have access to a computer.
The locations and the dates to cast your vote will be announced closer to the time. Log on to our website http://www.southdublin.ie/HaveYourSay/ and social media channels for updates.