Speech by Sabina Higgins At the Launch of the Public Participation Network
Maritime Museum, Dun Laoghaire
I am delighted to be with you for the launch of your Public Participation Network.
Being free to participate; to have the opportunity to participate in the decisions that affect one’s life and the lives of others with whom one shares a community is a fundamental part of citizenship.
Every word in the logo is important – public in that sharing of opinions is open to everyone and decision-making is open and accountable.
‘Participation’ means having the opportunity to initiate proposals as much as agreeing with decisions. The capacity to offer suggestions is so important – so different from having decisions that affect you, announced to you.
Network – Everything and everybody is connected and that set of connections can be of great value.
That is why the Public Participation Network, which understands the critical importance of civic engagement in the local decision-making process, is such a valuable initiative. By placing the citizen at the very heart of the decision-making process the Network is recognising every member of our society as a key stakeholder with a voice that not only should but must be heard if we are to claim to be a true democracy.
It is greatly encouraging to know that, during the last year, a Network has been established in every county across Ireland, as part of local government reform. It is even more encouraging to learn that, to date, over one hundred and eighty groups and organisations have joined the Public Participation Network, with representatives being elected to Council committees and actively engaging in what we all hope will be really meaningful public consultations.
Behind each group and representative lie many citizens whose voices can now be brought to the table; their points of view put forward, their requirements understood and their needs acknowledged. By bringing together the collective concerns of the many different people who comprise our society, we can create inclusive communities where all citizens can grow and flourish.
In a few weeks time we will begin a year of important commemoration when we will have the opportunity to reflect on the inspiring words of the Proclamation of Independence. We will be reminded of the ideals which inspired the men and women who fought for a democratic republic and will also, I hope, consider what we must do to live up to those ideals.
We remind ourselves of the words of the 1916 Proclamation:
...equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens, and pursues the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation and of all its parts, cherishing all the children of the nation equally...
As we begin that process of commemorations, how better can we honour the values of our founders than by working together towards a renewed and strengthened recognition of the importance of each individual member of our community, and of our duty and right to play a role in the creation of an equal and equitable society.
You are of course commencing your partnership initiative in a most significant year – it has been called the most significant since 1945 - when what is local fits into what is urgent and global. The United Nations Sustainable development Goals are aimed at achieving sustainable lie on the planet. There are aimed at 17 Goals and 169 Targets including ending global poverty and gender violence. It took 2 years of continuous work to agree on the. They have been signed up to by 200 countries – The Leaders of which from across the globe came to the UN in New York to do so and make their pledge.
Goal No. 13 is Climate Action – take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. As you are aware, this week over 147 countries are meeting in Paris to address the challenge of climate change which would make our planet uninhabitable for future generations due to desertification and extreme weather.
For the goals to be reached, it is stated that “everyone needs to do their part: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like you.
As to poverty we have been asked to prioritise our efforts for the bottom 40 per cent of our people. To have a social floor beneath which nobody falls. As to reducing the impact on the atmosphere we have been asked to change our behaviour in the way we consume. We are asked to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Partnership requires patience and above all respect for the diversity of opinions as to strategy. When people feel they have helped form the decision as well as taking it they can feel ownership of it.
Good decisions deserve good communication and there is always a great spread of talent, experience and wisdom available when people come and to partnerships.
The partnerships work best when they manage to include that diversity of experience and talent.
When ideas are flowing there is a great energy that is being shared.
So partnerships can not only be effective they can be enjoyable.
I think it is the task of our time to see ourselves as an interdependent part of the Global Family and to know that all we do has ......... out in the world.
For me if the PPN is to play the great role it could play I would think its 1st body of work would be the different organisational interests working as a whole to familiarise themselves with the 17 Goals and the 169 Targets.
May I conclude by commending and thanking all of those involved in the development of the Public Participation Network – an inspiring initiative which will be fundamental to the creation of a future Ireland for a new generation – an Ireland which places community at its very centre.