Following the adoption of the Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP) by Tipperary County Council a participative networking event, supported by Healthy Ireland Local Government, was held in Clonmel on 14th May 2024. Attendees included representatives from Department of An Taoiseach, Department of Health, officials from Tipperary County Council, members of the LCDC including the HSE, An Garda Siochana, Local Development Companies and the local Voluntary and Community sector. There were over 40 participants were in attendance.

Local cohesion strategic networking sessions are envisaged as vehicles to nurture intersectoral collaboration at the local level with regard to the implementation LECPs. They will also enable central government departments to open a dialogue on assisting with implementation and coherence, hear of opportunities for innovation while gaining an awareness of local issues and challenges.

Apart from short briefings from Barry Vaughan (Dept. of An Taoiseach) and Greg Stratton (Department of Health) the collaborative and consultative approach taken by the Council was explained by Ciaran Lynch (advisory committee), Margo Hayes and Fiona Crotty (both Tipperary Co Co) to those in attendance.

A highlight of the event was a facilitated workshopping session where the attendees rotated around five stations to have open discussions on potential opportunities and to understand what projects were in progress or planned by participant organisations. The five stations represented the high level goals of the LECP. The results of these interactions were then fed back to the group as a whole with  Barry Vaughan and Greg Statton giving a central government perspective on the findings.

Healthy Ireland Local Government will now be supporting the rollout of these events across the other 30 Local Authorities in the coming months.

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